Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.
Christian D. Larson
Collaborative Therapeutic approach
In my training and ongoing professional development as a clinical psychologist I have been trained in a variety of therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), acceptance commitment therapy (CBT), cognitive analytic therapy, and interpersonal therapy to mention a few. I am also an advanced level behaviour support practitioner, having spent more than 10 years studying and practicing applied behaviour analysis and the emergence of positive behaviour support.
In my current practice I use a variety of therapeutic approaches and techniques, forming what we call an 'eclectic approach' which means to skilfully combine several approaches into one therapeutic form. In my practice we collaborate and discuss the best approach and select the approach best suited to your way of thinking, your philosophy in life, and what you would like to do in life.
Scientific evidence within psychology as a science informs our practice as therapists and practitioners. All validated therapies have lots of evidence to demonstrate effectiveness, hence the term 'validated'. But the most important factor which determines effectiveness and outcomes is the collaborative relationship between the person and the therapist.
a bit about How I work with people
I believe there is nothing 'wrong' with your brain. Despite all the evidence your mind may have found over time, the labels and diagnostic terms, the expert advice, etc. you are not (and can never be) an angry, or anxious, or depressed, or jealous, or annoying, or deficient, or bipolar, or broken, or weak, or any combination of the above descriptors. You cannot 'be' these things.
As you were reading the paragraph above your mind couldn't help itself but to generate thoughts, just like all our minds do. Whether the thought was 'Tom is wrong' or 'that's right' or '...but what about...' these are all thoughts! Not things you can find in the natural world, hold in your hand, or show to others. Hence, these are internal thoughts about ourselves. As humans we rarely ever stay present or in a state of 'being' but rather find ourselves constantly either thinking (good, bad, 3rd person, evaluating, judging) or doing!
Just like your mind may have done, my mind has also convinced me at times that I am exactly any or all of the above. But it simply can not be true, and does not hold true under even the lightest level of questioning.
If you are an angry person, why do you not feel angry right now? If you are angry right now, why were you not angry this morning, or yesterday? If you are a broken person, why were you not broken last week when you went to the gym on Tuesday? If you are a weak person, how does the mind explain that right in this moment you are reading these words from this website, investigating perhaps ways to improve your life or your mental health? I do not believe these are the actions of a weak person! Quite the contrary!
We can never 'be' an emotion despite however powerful this emotion may be in the moment. Our emotional state is constantly changing, just like our constant bombardment of thoughts from the forever machine which is our mind.
You are the only expert in your life and about your life
One of the many things I would like to offer is to draw your attention to all the things your mind has not yet thought about. This is not new information (how could I possibly know more about your life than you) but the same information from a different perspective. I often draw people's attention to patterns - in thinking, feelings, and behaviour, parallels, repeated occurrences, similarities, values and meaning, and questioning the many ways your mind has drawn conclusions about you, who you are, how you measure up to others, and the many labels your mind like to use in describing who you are.