If you have reached out but found the help you have accessed is incomplete or feels wrong, it can make you feel that nothing will ever take away your emotional pain.
This article discusses one reason why therapy may not be delivering the hoped-for results. Have a read, then if you think that my experiential and validating approach could help you, call me to discuss this.
THE STUDENT AND THE TEACHER – AN IMPORTANT LESSON IN PSYCHOTHERAPY EDUCATION AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING.
The story goes like this. A student goes to the teacher and asks a question.
The teacher answers by pointing to the road ahead. The student grabs the teacher’s finger!
This is exactly what is happening often in psychology, psychotherapy and education today. The symptoms of emotional distress are like the teacher’s finger. They are pointing the student towards the journey they need to undertake to regain emotional balance and enrich the quality of their lives.
Just as in the story above, many therapists and educators are attempting to resolve the anxiety, depression or whatever other symptoms are in play. Instead of helping the student by joining them on a journey of exploration and discovery, they are trying to “fix or cut off the pointed finger”! – as if the finger is the problem!!
They are trying to eliminate the symptoms instead of appreciating them as healthy reactions to an unhealthy situation.
By labeling these people as mentally ill, we are not understanding their condition. We are refusing to accept responsibility as a society, as a nation, indeed as a human race, for our part in creating these “disorders”.
So what’s different about my approach, which I call Core Development?
3 Key Qualities make Core Development different.
EXPLORING, EXPERIENCING AND VALIDATING.
EXPLORING
Instead of trying to eliminate the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression we explore them to discover their purpose and what is causing them. We’re not limited to any particular approach, belief system or technique. We have no preconceptions, we explore to find out what works best for you at that particular time.
EXPERIENCING
We do this experientially, so you discover what’s causing your distress through your own experience.
VALIDATING
We understand that your symptoms are not the problem, that in fact they are protecting you and they are potential signposts to a richer and more fulfilling life.
Core Development is an experiential process that has evolved from my own personal therapy, my life experience, my professional training in somatic psychotherapy and structural thinking and my international 45-year practice.
It does not diagnose character structures or personality types, instead it looks for what’s trying to happen and what is getting in the way, without pathologising.
If this appeals to you and you would like to arrange an in-person, zoom or phone session to explore it further, call me on +61 412 178 234.
Core Development is a creative learning process. It is not intended to replace clinical or medical treatment where this is required.
