On my own journey to becoming a counsellor I discovered that the knowledge, experience and qualities I have developed and possess can be used in multiple combinations and applied in many different contexts. This seems to consistently open doors to new opportunities and challenges and has contributed to the diversity, the satisfaction and continuous development and even the unexpected turns that I enjoy so much in the work that I do.
The discovery of how rewarding exploration can be and experiencing the value of empowerment are things I hope to share with others during my work, regardless of my role.
Personal Counselling
During personal counselling I work side-by-side with my clients on the basis of equality and shared responsibility. This means that we are each responsible, from within our individual positions, for our respective contributions to the counselling process in which your personal development is key.
Our mutual interaction will be geared to creating a ‘playing field’ in which you can safely explore new perspectives and options and gain insights into who you are and how and why you do the things that you do.
Insights that contribute to an awareness of who you truly are and the beliefs that underlie your behaviour may be a stepping stone on the way to new options for dealing with emotions, communicating with others, making choices and developing behaviour that is more effective in addressing your own personal needs.
Clients are often well aware that they themself need to take steps in order to come to a new balance in their lives. There is however a crucial difference between taking steps yourself and taking steps on your own. The first is a given when it comes to personal development, the latter a choice. This is where professionals like myself come into the picture - I am happy to support you for a while on the journey that you need to travel yourself, but not necessarily alone.
Projects
The common factor for me between the projects that I work on and the personal counselling that I offer, is that the human factor is paramount. I consider the topics in a similar way – what is the real issue here, what is not being told and why, what is going on with the dynamics and in the relationships and are we prepared to look at both the light and the dark side of things and consider the system as a whole. I see not only the topic or content of the projects I work on but also the professionals I work with as a continuous source of inspiration. This feeds my creativity, my love of language and images and drives my passion for diversity and development to seek out and pursue sometimes unconventional forms of expression. I adore synergy – for one thing it often means that I can leave some of the things I’m not too keen on doing to someone else who is keen. Or good at it, or in the best-case scenario, keen and good! For reasons much greater than having an excuse to not do things I don’t like doing, I can honestly say that I am a ‘true believer’ in the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Irrespective of the nature of my role whether this be as process manager, editor, production assistant, artist or reporter – I draw on my experience in different fields and my therapeutic background.