Techniques

I use numerous therapeutic approaches with my clients, the choice and variety of approaches used will depend upon what you wish to achieve and what your personal style is. Some clients respond better to certain techniques than others and I shall explore this with you during your initial session.  Here follows an outline of the main approaches I regularly use:

Counselling/Psychotherapy:
I use an integrative approach, drawing from a few different, but complementary psychotherapeutic modalities, all of which place the client at the centre of the process.  Many of the approaches I use are systemic, which means that they relate to how we as individuals relate to others around us, so are therefore extremely helpful for matters pertaining to relationships or self-esteem.   Some of the specialised modalities I am trained in are:

– Solution Focused Therapy: is also sometimes known as Solution Focused Brief Therapy and is a highly effective counselling approach that helps clients to surmount problems by devising and working on solutions and improvements in their life. SF therapy can be very uplifting and empowering as it helps clients to face their future with more confidence.

– Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): is a widely used therapeutic technique that aims to teach clients to understand their own thought processes and how they respond to situations they encounter in everyday life.  Once clients have learned tools that they can use, they usually find that they can understand themselves better and are able to cope in more adaptive ways. CBT is a highly effective method for dealing with a number of problems including anxiety, low mood or relationship issues.

– Schema Therapy:  Schema therapy provides a way of working that helps individuals to understand themselves, their beliefs and their behaviours better.  It is a powerful approach that equips people with the knowledge and roadmap they need to create positive changes for themselves.

– Transactional Analysis (TA):  based on the work of Eric Berne, TA  is used to help people to understand their own and others’ personalities and the way they transact, or communicate.  Awareness of one’s own personality and drivers helps people to improve their relationships not only with others, but with themselves.

– Couple and RelationshipTherapy: I am a qualified couples counsellor and use a variety of techniques to help people to understand and improve their relationships.  This type of therapy adapts well to all types of relationship therapy, whether that be with your significant other, or someone else you are close to.  One of the main approaches I use for relationship therapy is Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT) which helps people in relationships to resolve conflict and communicate more effectively.

Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy:
Hypnosis is a safe and natural state that allows you to connect with your deepest thought processes and focus on what you want. It can feel like a state of comfortable relaxation, or a bit like day-dreaming, yet at the same time it enables many people to gain insights into their personal beliefs, behaviours and expectations.  The ability to invoke this state in others is the skill of the professional hypnotist and the ability to invoke it in oneself is the skill of self-hypnosis. Professional hypnotherapists use a variety of techniques, depending on the client’s needs. The techniques I will use in our sessions together might include suggestion therapy, where the therapist helps the client to “re-programme” their thought processes or behaviours using hypnosis and carefully constructed suggestions; the use of metaphor where imageray or story telling help individuals to find their own answers to their problems or analytical hypnotherapy which helps the client to access thoughts or beliefs that may be holding him or her back or causing difficulties in coping with certain situations. Once the client can recognise and understand these thoughts and beliefs, they often become less powerful and the client can regain confidence to deal more easily with situations they found difficult before.

There are many myths about hypnosis and hypnotherapy – read my blog post to find out which, if any, are true!

Other Techniques:

BrainWorking Recursive Therapy™:  In 2016 I qualified as a Certified BWRT® Practitioner and then as an Advanced Practitioner.  I now use this approach regularly to help people who are looking for rapid and powerful change.  It is a non-invasive, non-hypnotic therapy that can often be content free (does not require the client to fully disclose the issue they wish to work on). More information here.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP):  NLP provides a powerful and varied “tool kit” of techniques that the therapist can either employ in the consulting room or teach the client to use him or herself. NLP techniques can help clients to improve focus, performance or confidence; to resolve dilemmas; as an aid to planning and prioritising amongst many other uses. NLP calls upon multiple senses and thinking processes, which is part of what makes it work.  It can also be lots of fun as clients can experiment with various techniques and choose which methods work best for them. Some NLP techniques can also be used in hypnosis, which can enhance the effect.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): is a technique I can teach a client that employs specific “tapping” routines on meridian channel points on their own body, similar to those points used during acupuncture, but no needles are used. EFT can help clients to help themselves with control of symptoms and behaviour. It is especially effective at addressing phobias and performance nerves.

Mindfulness: Practiced for centuries, Mindfulness is the skill of being fully present in the moment and allows one to gain improved appreciation and engagement with his or her surroundings and experiences. We are programmed to repeat and re-enact our responses, which can result in the development of often unhelpful habitual behaviours that may lead to problems such as anxiety, anger or low mood.   By moving the focus away from ruminating about the past or fretting about the future, one can better engage with and deal with the here and now.  It sounds so simple, but few of us can achieve this persistently. By learning mindfulness techniques, one can learn to be more grounded, more resilient and even more creative.  Mindfulness creates the conditions for making healthy and adaptive choices in life.