Welcome to my Blog!
I hope you find this information useful and reflective.
If you have questions or comments, don’t hesitate to engage!
Lived Experience
I could list the adverse experiences that I have had in my 50 years of life that others might want to access to gain insight and guidance. Especially if you are going through something similar and need support, talking to a Counsellor who not only has experience in the field, has studied and trained extensively and is part of an ever growing mental and emotional wellbeing profession, but has also been through similar experiences and made it to the other side in one piece, can feel protective and secure. It builds trust and confidence when the Counsellor you are talking to about your issues, has been through it themselves.
Recovery from Crisis Events
For most people, turning to their loved ones for support is the most natural thing to do. Ideally, we have kin and community that can provide support and solace, especially if they themselves are going through the crisis alongside us. Tragedy can unite people, bringing out the best in human qualities as a survival mechanism, like care taking, listening, commiserating and empathising.
Sometimes though, there can be a saturation. When a tragic event occurs, and the people around us are themselves in a state of shock or trauma, leaking sorrow onto one another only exacerbates the situation, causing more harm and prolonging the recovery period.
Ethical Service Promotion
I networked with potential referral points and continue to find ways to connect with other people and entities that are like minded and want to provide a secure, safe, inclusive, accessible, ethical, intersectional and diverse community that simply cares for the wellbeing of other human beings at a time when the most powerful elements of our world and communities serve themselves and their own interests first, at the expense of the most vulnerable who need it most.
I don’t have all the answers when it comes to supporting people experiencing difficulty in their lives, but that’s the point of my client lead and person centered practice. I know the answers come from within and my job is to help my clients find their own. Their own solutions, understanding, meaning and their own voice.
Cultural Awareness
I find that a Culturally centered approach to Counselling enriches the therapeutic alliance in a way that builds trust, resonance, communication and connection like nothing else. It can encompass so much and facilitates empathy and co-regulation, that enriches humility and transformation beautifully.
Culture is not just what colour your skin may be or what country you come from. It is that, but it is so much more. The things that bind people to community and belonging is hugely influential to people’s wellbeing, but so is their capacity to individuate and express their autonomy and self-determination, even when guided and strongly linked to a cultural collective.