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Approach


At the base of my approach is the understanding that all human beings have inherent processes that support us and help us to heal and grow.

At times the transformative psychological processes that support psychological well-being are arrested or get stuck. Then our perspective tends to become narrow and we may feel overwhelmed. A supportive and accepting therapeutic relationship can help restore a sense of calm. And provide the safety and confidence needed to unblock natural transformative psychological processes, thereby enabling healthy development.

This may be a challenging process, requiring us

  • to go through difficult emotions,
  • to recognize and learn to accept parts of ourselves we have tended to deny,
  • to face up to and work at changing patterns of thinking and doing that constrain us and undermine our relationships,
  • to rediscover our resources – strengths, talents, supportive life experiences and interests – that will provide stepping stones in the process.

In my work as a psychologist, I integrate elements of the following approaches:

  • Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) recognises the central role that emotions play as guides to human needs, wishes and goals. They help to set us in motion. So-called emotion schemes consist of feeling, motivational, thinking and behavioural parts. Emotion schemes spring into action in response to certain cues. They operate outside awareness and profoundly impact conscious processing.Based on our experiences as we develop, human beings may banish certain basic emotions from their self-organisation and self-understanding (e.g., someone may say of themselves “I don’t get angry”). This means that we cut off access to our needs and wishes. Emotional change in EFT entails 1) increasing awareness, 2) transformation by accessing and developing alternative emotions and 3) emotion regulation so that these no longer feel overwhelming. Recognising and understanding the kinds of stories we tell about ourselves, and how we use them to make emotions meaningful, is fundamental to EFT practice.

    A significant part of my basic training as a clinical psychologist was rooted in humanistic-existential psychology, one of the fields from which EFT grew. My fellow students and I spent many hours sharpening our skills in recognizing and responding to emotions. Later experiences with social constructionism and narrative therapy enabled me to develop insights into the ways human beings construct meaning in constant interchange with the contexts we live in.

  • Body-oriented (somatic) therapy. Modern neuroscience shows us that the body is vitally important in the creation of emotions and meaning. Physical bodily feelings are the basis for emotional states. The ability of human beings to sense internal states and bodily processes has the potential to guide us in everyday life.In everyday life the body is the site of interpersonal and social conflicts, demands and restrictions. These become locked up inside our muscles and tendons. My training in dance and expressive therapy has sharpened my awareness of and appreciation for bodily processes. It has provided me with a wealth of embodied knowledge and skills to apply in my work with clients. My aim is to support clients in developing an embodied sense of self.

    More information under Services, dance and expressive therapy workshops.

  • Trauma-informed therapy: Traumatic experiences typically curtail emotional experience and produce a narrowed self-organisation. Emotion regulation is compromised. This means that self -soothing, including the ability to symbolise emotions e.g., by expressing in language what we feel, has either remained underdeveloped or has been disrupted.Working in an NGO (non-governmental organization) context in Namibia, with people who experienced structural inequality, poverty and war trauma, taught me the importance of identifying, mobilizing and strengthening community resources.

    This trauma informed approach deepened and became more diversified through my work at a psychosomatic clinic in Germany. Among others, I learnt about the power of imagery and other creative processes in emotion regulation. This was further augmented by undergoing EMDR (Eye-Movement-Desentisization and Reprocessing) training.

    Some of the principles and methods used in trauma therapy are helpful also in working with non-traumatised populations.

  • Systemic and family therapy: this approach fundamentally understands and addresses the individual’s difficulties and disturbance in relation to the contexts they live in. These contexts include relationships to significant people, e.g., family members, including the couple relationship. The role of wider systems such as community, cultural and religious connections as well as socio-economic circumstances are also regarded as formative of an individual’s psychological development and emotional well-being.This approach formed a significant part of my basic training as a clinical psychologist and I have participated in a number of family therapy practica.
  • Cognitive behaviour therapy, in particular the so-called third-wave approaches focus on the enhancement of psychological and behavioural processes that support psychological health and well-being. This is in contrast to old school behaviour therapy, that emphasized the minimisation of symptoms.The promotion of mindfulness as practised in compassion focused therapy is a good example of how third wave therapies prioritise the way people relate to their internal experiences.
  • My approach to working with couples is broadly psychodynamic and is shaped by attachment theory. I work collaboratively with couples to:
    • Cultivate curiosity about difference: this involves moving past idealisation to experiencing the partner in more complex ways.
    • Increase awareness of the unconscious dynamics in the couple; this is based on an assessment and understanding of significant early relationships with primary caretakers and later relationships with previous partners.
    • Help you as partners tolerate your own emotional experiences that are deemed too dangerous are harmful to self and the other.
    • Strengthen the capacity of your couple relationship to hold or contain these emotional experiences.
    • This includes repeated experiences in the couple therapy of having the supposed dangerous emotional experiences received, understood and accepted by the therapist and, increasingly, by your partner.
    • Foster a relationship that gives room for separateness and each of you forging your individual path, and at the same time, space for intimacy and closeness.