Approach

Here is some information that can answer the most common questions you may have at this stage. While this is certainly not all that there is to know about the counselling relationship, I hope it will nevertheless give a general idea about my perspectives on counsellor and client roles.
 
Choosing my private counselling services, means that you don’t need to be referred to me by a GP. You won’t have to go on a waiting list and you are not limited to the Medicare system that offers a maximum number of 10 sessions per year.  Neither are you restricted to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) as only available form of counselling, which may or may not be helpful to you. Your choices will not being made on your behalf by what’s available on the Medicare scheme and your treatment will not be recorded as under the ‘Better Access to Mental Health Care Initiative’. When you choose to see me privately your GP will not be informed of your counselling, unless you wish to, and it remains totally confidential.

In an environment based on confidentiality, trust and integrity, I will explore with you those issues which challenge you, and help you effectively to adjust and change. My main framework is technically known as Psychodynamic, and is developed from the Psychoanalytic model. It focuses on the psychological experiences merging from the various stages of the therapeutic process. For more information, please read the article about Psychodynamic Counselling. This approach is not simply based on you doing the talking and me doing the listening, but on a shared dialogue and participation.
 
During our sessions, I will implement various helping and caring skills and relay on active listening, with some questioning and reflecting with you with an empathic understanding. I will be paying attention to much more than just what is said in words by drawing upon psychodynamic analysis, interpretation, and developmental psychology and to maintain and increase meaning-seeking in order that the therapeutic relationship between us can be used to improve your life and self-awareness.
 
This process may bring us to look at past and earlier relationships, and your role in those.  This is not only about looking at the past, however. It’s also about exploring underlying issues that may shape your present problem, and developing new ways of experiencing that can change your future. I will be encouraging and supportive, but I will give little or no directives or advices, since the scope is to help you toward a better self-understanding. The aim is to help you make more sense of your individual circumstances and facilitate those changes in your life that are more beneficial and rewarding.

Contact me now on Skype, call me on (02) 8011 4367 or send me a message.