I use Person-Centered Therapy. Here’s what it’s all about.
Person-Centered therapy is a talking therapy, and that's what we'll do.
The aim is to provide you a comfortable and confidential space to talk as much or as little as you need to about the things that are important to you.
In this space you'll be listened to without judgement and you'll have the focused attention of someone who genuinely wants to understand what it's like to walk in your shoes.
You won’t be hurried, distracted or offered advice - you’ll instead be gently supported in ways that help you find the words, themes, connections and meanings that help you detangle the parts of your life that are problematic and reconnect with the positive aspects of yourself that often become lost when life becomes overly challenging or overwhelming.
It’s often amazing that when we are in a peaceful, quiet space with the full attention of someone who wants the best for us, without imposing their own opinions, advice or judgements on us, who is comfortable to let us roam and fumble or falter or fume in the process of getting closer to what we know is right inside, productive growth flows from it.
Person-Centered Therapy, a description in plain language.
Person-Centered Therapists believe that only you know the way that’s best for you to heal and grow.
The reason that this growth doesn't happen for many of us is due to circumstances in our lives that have got in the way of us being able to listen to our inner-self (we call it the organismic self) and understand the warning messages that it sends us when we're not in alignment - in the form of emotional and psychological distress.
The blocks to our organismic self being heard come primarily from the beliefs and values that we've taken on board in order to gain love and acceptance during our life. Rules like 'I must always be like this' or 'Good people never do that' are common examples of these beliefs and in Person-Centered theory they are known as Conditions of Worth. Living to the beliefs and values of others and not our own are seen as the fundamental root causes of mental health problems.
So in it's very simplest form, Person-Centered therapy aims to help people reconnect with - and be able to understand - their Organismic Self, become aware of the Conditions of Worth that have been over-riding their real needs, thoughts and behaviours, and start to explore how to be more aligned internally and externally in the world (we call this being Congruent).
To see if I can be of help to you, book a free 30 minute videocall session.
For more information about how I work visit the Blog.
