Integrative Counselling – a Relational Model

I am trained in the Relationally Centred model of Psychotherapeutic Counselling. This an integrative counselling model using aspects from humanistic-existential approaches such as Person Centred therapy, Gestalt and Transactional Analysis, and informed by Psychodynamic theories such as relational dynamics, developmental psychology and attachment theory. Above all it takes as its central focus the relationship between therapist and client.

Research has shown that as social beings, establishing healthy relationships is critical to our emotional wellbeing. It is also true to say that much of the harm that is done to us or the stress that we encounter in life happens in the context of our relationships with others.

In an ideal world, in the first few years of life we learnt from our caregivers how to form secure, loving relationships. But if this did not happen for you, don’t worry it is never too late to repair this and learn to connect.

 

 

 

As a Relationally Centred therapist my aim is to make deliberate use of our relationship to help you learn ways to connect safely with others. I will bring myself fully into the relationship that we create together, walking by your side as you address your struggles.

There will be space to explore your current relationships, including that most important relationship: the one with yourself, and how they are impacted by your past relationships with significant figures.

 

 

I am passionate about the potential of the therapeutic relationship. It is a protected space we clear for the two of us to meet in the service of you.

A therapy relationship can reflect the tangles in your relationships ‘out there’, as they show up here and now between us. It can be a source of healing and strengthened attachments, allowing you to grow up afresh with some of the losses, traumas and holes in the heart attended to, grieved and witnessed. It can also be a kind of relationship ‘laboratory’, an experiment ground for new and more authentic, satisfying ways of relating.

Perhaps it is only in relationship that we learn to be fully ourselves and to find out who that is.