What is psychotherapy and how does it work?

Psychotherapy helps people to manage difficulties they have in their experiences, emotions or relationships with other people.

I would describe it as a process of conversations between the client and the therapist where they both explore the client's world in terms of behaviours, thoughts, ideas, relationships and dig deeper to try to understand them in the context. We always look at the developmental component - shorter or longer, i.e. how has a particular belief or the realm the clients live in appeared, how it came to life or how has it sustained over the years. The client’s experience are relevant in therapy as they are unique for each of us marking our life just like a fingerprint or a DNA is unique to each of us and tells us who the person is.

Clients come to therapy / counselling for different reasons. This can be alleviating of your problems or symptoms, changing or achieving a goal. Sometimes the things are blurry and hard to pinpoint, but you feel that something is off, and I will try to help you and guide you through the journey of discovering your strengths, weaknesses, and potentials. Sometimes some additional issues and topics appear during the process of therapy and it is important to address them and discuss them.

The basis for me to help you is the relationship we build. A therapeutic relationship is achieved through our encounters and it entails the mutual respect, trust, and the empathy I, as a therapist, have for you. That said, we will discuss any issue that comes within the process as they are inevitable elements of the therapy.

In the first session or first several sessions I will take some basic information from you and ask you questions. The information I gather enable me to get a clearer picture of you as a person and better understanding of how to proceed. Getting to know each other is a mutual process and the initial sessions also give you the chance to see if I am a therapist that suit you.

When I work with adolescents, parents’ involvement is part of the process. This is usually so that the first appointment is together with an adolescent and the parent(s) where the parents sign the agreement for the work with their child. Later in the process I will occasionally and when needed consult with parents and they might be invited to a session if my client and I agree to it. Work with adolescents might also include the need for assisting with schooling issues and contacting school. This will be done only in the case the client requests or allows.

Since I am still in the process of training to become licenced psychotherapist, I conduct psychotherapy under supervision. More about this you can read under CONFIDENTIALITY.