Therapies
I use a range of therapeutic approaches to help my clients heal from their pain. The direction of therapy is always guided by the individual needs of the client. We will develop a treatment plan together to ensure you are moving in a direction that suits your own personal healing.
Feel free to contact me if you are interested in finding out more about any of the following modalities could be beneficial for you.
Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
IFS is a revolutionary way of seeing our internal world. It proposes that we are all made up of parts which play different roles in our lives, some hold a lot of pain and others work to protect us from that pain.
In IFS we always work with parts rather than pushing them away, even those that we have been taught to reject. Addicted parts, angry parts and even suicidal parts are all welcome in therapy because deep down they have all developed as ways of coping with pain. These parts were adaptive at some point but may not longer be helpful, they may even be making life unbearable. Once we get to know these parts, they can release the burdens they are carrying and allow deep healing to occur.
The healing in IFS comes from the Self; an undamaged, powerful resource that we all have inside ourselves which is accessed through experiential work in therapy.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is a trauma processing therapy which is recognised by the World Health Organisation and many other international health agencies as an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). EMDR is increasingly being used to treat other issues such as anxiety, phobias, and addictions. EMDR is less like traditional talking therapy and more of a neurological approach to healing. It opens up new channels in your mind and allows you to shift from feeling stuck into a more adaptive way of thinking.
The treatment uses bilateral stimulation (usually eye movements) to process traumatic memories with incredible speed, rapidly reducing distress and shifting negative beliefs about the memory which have often been deeply held for years.
I use this therapy extensively and have found it to be an extremely successful treatment for a wide range of issues.
Psychedelic Integration Therapy
Psychedelic assisted psychotherapy is fast becoming recognised around the world as a highly effective healing modality. Psychedelics were being widely researched in the 1950s and 1960s with incredible results being published about their capacity to heal deep psychological issues, however in 1970 the US government banned the use of psychedelics and research into their therapeutic use all but ended. Only since the early 2000s has research into the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics re-emerged and we are now experiencing a psychedelic therapy renaissance with incredible clinical results published regularly.
Although psychedelic assisted psychotherapy is still illegal in Australia and in most countries around the world, people do use these substances in a range of therapeutic settings. After returning from these powerful experiences it can be very difficult to integrate them into everyday life. Integration is an essential part of the psychedelic experience as it facilitates grounding, processing, and putting into action the insights that come from these transformative experiences.
I offer integration therapy to any of my clients who want to learn and grow more from their psychedelic experiences.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
DBT is a mindfulness based therapy which focuses on the development of skills to learn how to cope with emotional instability. DBT uses many skills that were developed through cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), however it expanded upon these skills with a focus on emotional and interpersonal difficulties. Originally developed for the treatment of borderline personality disorder, the skills in DBT quickly became recognised as helpful for anyone who experiences difficulties with emotional regulation.
I often use DBT to help my clients develop safety and stability before using other modalities to heal their deeper pain. These skills are extremely helpful in learning how to contain behaviours that cause significant distress to my clients.