People come to see a psychotherapist for all sorts of reasons. It may be that you have mental health symptoms like low mood or anxiety. Or it may be that life events have been upsetting, that you are grieving or coming to terms with the loss of a job or relationship. Or, it may be that you want to come to know yourself more deeply, and change the relationship you have with yourself and your past.
One thing though is clear. The outcomes you want to work with in psychotherapy are yours alone, they come from the client. Psychotherapists do more than just listen and reflect, we ask questions, make observations, introduce models and theories or even use change techniques with you, but this should all be done in service of your clear outcomes.
Many things come up in psychotherapy. Your goal may be met and new ones may then come to light. Your goal may change as you develop more perspective and insight. Your initial goal may even be to work out what it is that you would like to have happen!
In all of these cases a skilled psychotherapist can act as a compassionate mirror, giving you the opportunity to notice yourself, to observe from new angles, and to make the changes you want to to align your inner and outer experiences.
My role as a psychotherapist is not to know best or to act as an expert. It is a position of humility, recognising that I don't know yet, that your experience will unfold as we enter into relationship, and that your system has it's own wisdom and wholeness that psychotherapy can help you embody.
Psychotherapy makes you more of who you are. At its best it connects, lightens, and enables. At its heart is the commitment to giving you self-determination and influence in your own life.
For compassionate, relational psychotherapy, get in touch.
