Following a unique approach to Addiction Therapy I offer an emphatic and non-judgemental space where my clients can explore the reasons why they started engaging in these dysfunctional behaviors.
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This is most often an indication of a need to escape some undesirable aspect of their reality, the need to fit in to a social subculture due to a low self-esteem or a sense of abandonment and/or rejection or in some cases the result of adventure seeking behaviour due to a high adrenaline threshold. In each case, understanding the reasons why is crucial in helping the client find alternate, more healthy and productive ways to deal with the underlying causes.
Also of importance is stressing the idea that at no point should the client feel forced or depraved of leaving behind something that was for a long time a coping mechanism or a way to fill some underlying need. The subconscious is an important ally and foe in therapy and care is taken to engage this part of the personality to ensure willing cooperation and change.
Lastly, building a future vision with the client that will motivate him/her to work at the necessary changes to live a sober life is an essential component in my therapeutic model.
With so many people falling victim to the devastating effects of depression and anxiety, I understand well how overwhelming and seemingly hopeless these prolonged attacks on our emotions (depression) and our thoughts (anxiety) can feel like. Together with the client, I take care to meticulously examine the roots of these disturbances most often found in childhood beliefs or occurrences that sometimes takes years to manifests itself into the conscious mind of the individual.
The unconscious nature and seemingly long gaps in time for underlying issues to evolve in the collective emotional and cognitive manifestations known as “depression” and “anxiety” is often the reason why clients sometimes struggle to identify why they feel or think in a particular way and because they don’t understand the reasons themselves they reach for the quick “fix” of taking medication that only address the symptoms but never adequately deals with the causes.
Only with unearthing the root causes, addressing and dealing with them can the individual gain true freedom and healing from these crippling conditions.
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Grief Counselling
Loss happens to us all at some point or another, but sometimes, depending on the circumstances of the individual some find it impossible to let go and move on.
With a compassionate understanding of how grief impacts different people and trained to help people find ways to cope with the sense of emptiness that pervades the daily lives of the bereaved person, I can help make sense and cope with the sudden and intense emotions overwhelming the individual.
Relationship Counselling
Following the IMAGO model to Relationship therapy, I help the couple, over the course of 12 sessions to:
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Get to know their partner’s needs
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Identify childhood wounds hurting their relationship
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Learn effective communication
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Rediscover how to enjoy each other again
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Learn to accept and give love
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Address the problem areas
Individual/Family Counselling
Whatever your needs are as an individual or as a family, I am here to assist you to deal with the things affecting your wellbeing and in some cases come out to help families communicate and mediate during times of crisis as in addiction interventions and other instances of trauma.
Teenager Counselling
Teenagers are in a unique phase of their development where their need to find and express their individuality whilst still feeling accepted make them especially susceptible to peer pressure.
Other factors like divorce in the family, combined families, pressure to perform academically or in sports and growing sexual awareness all contribute to the adolescent phase being a particularly volatile and unstable time that makes them prone to addiction, depression, anxiety and even suicidal tendencies.
Being intimately familiar with all of these issues coming from a similar background myself, I can be a safe place for your teenager to vent and assimilate conflicting emotions and beliefs about themselves and the world they live in.
Trauma Counselling
Traumatic events can leave lasting imprints on our psyche and leaving it unchecked can develop into full-blown psychological and behavioural disturbances later on in life.
I can help immediately following a traumatic event to help victims understand and come to grips with their collective and individual experiences and even people that only come months or years after the traumatic event to help them redefine what these traumatic events came to mean for them.
Weight-Loss Counselling
Excessive weight-gain or the inability to lose weight is most often an indication of underlying emotional problems that if left unaddressed will frustrate every attempt to be healthy and feel attractive. I can help regain control of your weight by focusing on the root causes that led to the weight gain, find better ways to cope with unwanted emotions and create a vision for your future that will help you want to run after the things you want instead of trying to run away from the things you are trying to avoid.