Issues for counselling

 

 

You can consult us for advice, counselling or treatment of:

 

  • depressive complaints, gloom, loneliness or guilt feelings
  • stress symptoms because of problems at home, work, school, college, in a personal relationship
  • nervous exhaustion, burnout
  • low self-esteem
  • anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, hyperventilation
  • shyness, fear of social contact
  • trauma resulting from a shocking experience
  • coping with bereavement and grief
  • problems in a personal relationship (both partners or individually)
  • questions of identity
  • adapting to life’s changes, stages in life
  • counseling during chronic and/or serious illness
  • unexplained physical symptoms

My personal notes on working with some of these conditions:

Of course issues are as diverse as there are people. I like to see every person as a new study, a journey into the mind. I always believe in possible growth and never see someone as less than any other or as ill. If so, I need to do therapy for myself. Even though I am trained for it, I prefer not to label or diagnose apart from when it is useful for acceptance and adaptation. Working with people in a personal environment I see as a challenge to be fully equal, real and open in therapy and in daily life alike, which I see as a spiritual journey.

Stress, anxiety and depression

Stress, anxiety and depression have significant physical symptoms, restlessness, agitation, tiredness, disturbed biological clock. Cognitive therapy and working with your body and breath can both help. Therapy and yoga combined work very well for these conditions.

With burnout, I initially emphasize a phase of achieving calm, by focusing on structure, relaxation and identifying your limits, before embarking on further therapy, which may itself impose a strain on the client. I provide support and structure and investigate how a client can avoid losing control. Only then can cognitive therapy be employed to explore the causes and experiment with new behavioral patterns.

Trauma, grief and illness

I have attended postgraduate courses in working with psychological trauma and grief. Those subjects are often intertwined. In cases of trauma, clients often also experience feelings of grief at the loss of physical intactness, unconstrained lifestyle or expectations. In cases of grief involving very sudden loss of a loved one or the occurrence of a physical handicap, there is commonly also a period of shock. Shock does not necessarily become a psychological trauma. Above all it is important that a person continues to follow his or her own healing impulses; these are different for every individual. People often need help to give these impulses room to work.

I came into personal contact with serious illness when my husband was diagnosed with malignant cancer. I have seen and experienced the consequences of illness for an individual and his surroundings. Since then I have been better able to offer counsel to clients in such a phase of their life which can generate a major – and positive – revolution in their thinking. Very often there is initially a condition of shock, while at the same time decisions must be made. I can support and advise partners and family members, who are often trying to sustain two lives at the same time.