THERAPEUTIC ORIENTATIONS
As a Counselling Psychologist I have an honours degree in Psychology and as a Counselling Psychologist I am trained in Person-centred, Psychodynamic, and CBT theories.
Whilst I am not a specialist in any particular theory it allows me to adapt to the complexity of each individual clients needs. Rather than working in one specific modality I will adapt to each individual clients needs at that time by looking out for and incorporating elements of different theories. In addition I may draw on tools I have developed myself or from other theories, in particular Mindfulness, Internal Family Systems and Parts Theory, and my own Spirals Theory. This may present as .....
* Engaging with the Here and Now to enable a catharsis of emotions in order for them to lose their power over you.
* Encouraging you to reflect back on past experiences to understand how you have come to this point now.
* Identifying and challenging externally constructed thoughts and help you to reconstruct new narratives that come from and work better for you.
* Identify young parts of the self that are driving current behaviours in order to bring them up to date with current circumstances.
* Encouraging the awareness of how the body is being experienced and responding to thoughts and issues as another way to access unconscious stuck emotions.
* Reflecting on the dynamics of our relationship in order to help understand and work with relational issues.
*Normalising the process of therapy in order to handle perceived relapses.
My model of therapy
This model utilises and reflect on the way, as a Counselling Psychologist, I take an interesctional approach, which means I consider all internal and external elements and how they may interact and influence each other. I do not see the clients presenting problem as all of who they are but just a part of them.
The coloured circles are approaches I have trained in and take and issues that I have had training and experience in. However I do not dismiss that there are other approaches that can be helpful in which other CP's may utiliise or therapists will specialise in. The effectiveness of any approach depends on the individual client and language they resonate with the most so it is important there is diversity of approaches that can be taken.
Because of treating an individual as intersectional it means I don't have to be an expert, or have experience for myself any of the issues presented. How each individual experiences their issue is unique and can at times be helpful to not have our own experiences blur the view of the clients. My aim us to empathise and understand the clients world with them in the role of expert.
Core training
KEY
Tools and theories I have learnt, experience of and draw on.
TOP DOWN
Working with maladaptive thought patterns and beliefs directly to change feelings and behaviours
Institutions
Society
linked
Depression
Stress
OCD
Loss
Relationships
Psychosis
Anxiety
Gender
Eating disorders
Illness
Sexuality
Addictions
Systemic
Hypnotherapy
MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is a helpful tool in order to slow clients down and help them to intentionally develop a greater awareness of their internal interactions between thoughts, feelings, behaviours and bodily epxeriences.
It enourages a more compassionate approach to self by encouaraging the self to come forward rather than to shut it off which is the cause of many problems.
Effective for when thought processes become too chaotic to manage or we get locked into a rigid place.
Key figures
Mark Williams, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Culture
Religion
PERSON CENTERED THERAPY
If you have already done a lot of self-help, believe you have good reflective capacity, and are aware your issues are more deep rooted or complex, then CBT may not be sufficient for long term change.
All talking therapy starts from a place of confidentiality, safety, and boundary setting in order to create effective change with your issues. Three fundamental principles created by Carl Rogers enable a therapeutic relationship to be formed in which a client can express and explore their internals elf.
Empathy, Unconditional Positive Regard and Congruence
Sessions continue until the client feels confident in coping alone for themselves.
Effective for
Lost sense of self or direction, personal growth, emotional detachment.
Key figures
Carl Rogers
Counselling
EFT
EMDR
IFS is a particularly powerful tool in relation to trauma and early attachment work.
Key figures
Richard Schwartz - IFS
Bessel Van der Kelk - MRI research into the Polyvagal nervous sytem and Triune Brain
Peter Levine - Healing from the bottom up
Babette Rothschild - The Body remembers
Bessel Van der Kelk - IFS
Janine Fisher - Parts Theory
Internal Family Sytems and Parts Theory are fairly new to the world of Psychology (1980's) but scientific research through MRI brain scanning has discovered significant relationships between different parts of the brain in which we can work with therapuetically.
Linking also to body work we are able to now work with 'felt' parts that need healing rather than pre-frontal thinking parts of the brain. Using the body we can locate the past child parts of the whole family sytem that need to have their say so that the present 'self' can help bring them up to date to the present.
PARTS THEORY &
Internal Family
Systems
History
Effective for
Relationship issues, past traumas, abuse and neglect, attachment issues, and complex issues.
Key figures
Sigmund Freud - Unconsciousness, dream analysis
Carl Yung - Collective unconscious, archetypes
John Bowlby - attachment theory
Melanie Klien - Object relations, developmental
PSYCHODYNAMIC
If you are aware of more deeper routed, historical or more complex issues then you may need a psychotherapeutic approach.
This may take longer because it needs a much more sensitive and slow paced approach in understanding and breaking down defence mechanisms before being able to affect any therapeutic change.
COGNITIVE
BEHAVIOURAL
THERAPY
(CBT)
Your GP may initially refer or recommend you to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), not because it is necessarily the right thing for you but because it is easy to prove as the most cost-effective due to it’s focused nature.
However many people have never had to reflect on or think about their mental health until a particular issue appears and so the act of doing so can be sufficient for creating change.
Sessions are solution-focused and over a brief and set duration of time.
Effective for
Anxiety, depression, phobias, addictions, targeted issues.
Key figures
Aaron and Judith Beck, Albert Ellis, Christine Padesky
By focusing only on the 'thinking' part of the brain it is easy to get stuck there and believe nothing can change. By changing just our thoughts alone won't change how we feel unless we are also connected to this part of our brain.
Working with creative means allows us to connect to the right side of the brain to access emotional expression, intuition, instinct etc.
This enables us to unlock the rigidity, to see the possibility of alternative ways of being and viewing the world which can then override the rigid beliefs.
CREATIVITY AND PLAY
Medication
Psychotherapy
Existentialism
My SPIRAL MODEL
Through my experience of working with clients for the last 10years I have observed the same spiral process pattern has emerged in every client.
I do not see humans and emotions as being fixed but as a constant movement inward and outward of self as new skills and awareness are leaarn, resilience and growth is developed.This is not a linear path of one process but lots of parts of us working to come together at the same point.
Neurolinguistics
CAT
Family
Issues I can work with
Other approaches to therapy
External influences
FOUNDATIONS
Empowerment through emotional expression and self-direction in the Here and Now.
BOTTOM UP
Working with unconscious past experiences to facilitate change in feelings, thoughts and behaviours in the present
SPIRAL MODEL
of change and growth
©Julie Raworth 2023
My Spiral Model has emerged from repeated experiences of watching my clients go through such a process and evidenced in creative work.
Therapy may be experienced at times as chaotic, fragmented, complex and not following a straight path but the underlying process in which therapy occurs remains the same.
I have created The SPIRAL MODEL to illustrate in more detail as to how therapy can help us connect with our internal resources that enable us to grow resilience in facing our difficulties and opening up a world of colourful emotions, thus meeting our potential.
The use of a spiral comes because, whilst there is an overall process of growth and development that enable sus to feel freer and more open, it is also a constant to and fro within self as new changes occur. At times we need to retreat back into ourselves in order to reconnect with our resources.
1 SELF
The internal self is the only place where we will find our true self in which we can heal and grow from.
1i Search for self
We need to continually connect with Self in order to follow our own pathway of growth.
1ii Void or pain
When looking inwardly we may find pain, conflict or merely a void of self.
1iii Resources
By facing our internal selves and the void beyond the pain, we gain access to our resources.
(Curiosity to be added)
2 AWARENESS
For anything to change we have to find ways to become aware of what is truly going on within us
3 VULNERABLE SPOT
The internal self is the only place where we will find our true self in which we can heal and grow from.
3ii Internal conflicts
3ii Maladaptive thoughts
Internal conflicts occur when we are trying to follow a pat, potentially from external influences, that does not match our true self.
It is common to create thoughts in which we know are irrational or unhelpful but can’t help ourselves thinking this way.
3iii Loss
3iv Trauma
Trauma is not just a traumatic event but how an individual has learnt to cope or not with any life experience.
4 RESILIENCE
Resilience is the ability to cope with being a true and vulnerable self. This is different to being strong. This comes from looking within and facing our 'selves' and our vulnerable spot. To trust that we are resilient enough to cope with all difficulties opens up everything else involved in growth and change.
5 EMPOWERMENT
Once we become more resilient we become less fearful of the emotions involved in creating change and feel empowered from within to do what is needed.
6 EMERGING COLOURS
Through the process of facing and working through
internal conflicts and wounds an emergence of other emotions brings colour to our lives.
6i Peace
Peace can come after a period of internal conflict and pain has been faced.
6iv Growth
Growth means we learn we can become more than we ever thought we could be as a person.
6ii Hope
Once we come to realise we can survive facing our internal self we start to feel a sense of hope that things could be different.
6v Confidence
Greater awareness and emotional maturity brings confidence in being ourselves and not affected or concerned by external views around us.
6iii Potential
As we start to connect more and more with our true selves we are able to gain a sense of our own potential and feeling it may be possible to meet it.
6vi Joy
With increased confidence in being an authentic ‘self’ creates less worry time and more time to enjoy life and being ourselves.
7 REFLEXIVITY
By increasing the positive experiences of becoming ore aware of self we develop more want and skills to reflect.
7i Strenght to return inwards
With greater reflexivity means the greater capacity to keep searching back inwards to dig deeper into ourselves.
8 PARADOXICAL REACTIONS
With every emotion there comes an opposite which may create further internal conflict.
8i Grief or loss of self
In becoming a more authentic person we may experience a loss for the old (constructed/false) self that we are more familiar with.
8ii Fear, guilt and regret
Through a journey of developing authenticity we may reflect on past behaviours and have feelings about this, such as guilt or regret.
8iii Changes in relationships
We may see changes in our relationships, good and bad. We may start to see the unhealthy relationships we are currently in and want to shed them, or resolve issues with and build stronger relationships with loved.