Meet Monique
I have not always found it easy to ask for help. For many years, I tried to work through personal challenges alone using my strong ‘will-power’ until I couldn’t any longer. That’s where my journey into counselling and growth began many years ago.
Growth for me is more than managing unhelpful behaviour, feelings or thoughts. It is about growing in awareness, being in touch with my feelings and my body. Growth is about relating, being able to communicate well. It is about authenticity, being open and congruent. Growth is about loving, giving of myself in relationships. It is about enjoying life, being spontaneous, creative, taking risks, being present and coping with difficult circumstances. Growth is about connection with the Source of life, in the many ways that is understood whether it be God, nature, humanity or spirit. Growing is realising and using my potential.
I come to counselling after more than 30 years in legal practice. Many people ask me, why the move from law to counselling? In many ways, I think I have been counselling for most of my life. People have often looked to me for support during difficult times. I feel that counselling is what I was “made” to do, it just took me a while to realise it. In the course of my work as a lawyer, I have gained insight into many of the challenges that individuals and families face and the inadequacy of the law to meet those challenges in any transformational way. When I began a Master of Counselling degree in 2020, I wasn’t entirely sure where it would lead. What I have discovered, is a passion and skill for helping people who have lost their way, find their way home.
Our Counselling Philosophy
There are many different types of psychotherapy and counselling techniques. When looking for a counsellor, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Research has shown that the greatest predictor of therapeutic outcome is the quality of the therapeutic relationship not the tools or techniques used. Renowned person-centred psychologist, Carl Rogers put it this way: “If I can provide a certain type of relationship, the other person will discover within themselves the capacity to use that relationship for growth and change, and personal development will occur”. For this reason, our focus is on building a strong therapeutic relationship.
We see ourselves as helpers. Helping is about outcomes that improve your life. This involves understanding your needs, finding the right balance between support and challenge, helping you find direction and meaning and challenging you to act on what you are learning.
Our underlying philosophical assumption is that you can understand your own needs and problems, gain insight about yourself, and make constructive changes. We are not the expert in your life, you are. There are times however, when we all lose touch with the “Expert” within, with our “True Self”. For many reasons, we split off from the feeling that who we are is okay and we need help to regain that connection. Helping you find that connection is foundational to the work we do.
Our Counselling Framework
We use an integrative approach to therapy grounded in humanist-existentialist thinking, informed by family systems theory and interpersonal neurobiology.
What does all that mean? Well for starters, we believe in your potential for growth and change and the importance of a strong therapeutic relationship to facilitate that change. We believe that if you can find meaning in your circumstances, here and now, you will grow and change.
Human beings are complex. We are each made up of and exist within complex systems: biological, psychological, emotional, social, environmental, and spiritual. We believe well-being is about wholeness and wholeness is about connection and integration across many domains. This means our focus is not your symptoms but gaining an understanding of your unique system. We take a holistic view of you as a person in the context of your own unique biology, family relationships, experiences, cultural background, and spiritual beliefs.
We use tools, concepts and interventions from various psychotherapy models including person-centred, mindfulness based, somatic, cognitive, family systems and experiential therapies. We are trauma informed and understand the importance of safety, stabilisation and engagement.
Our Way of Being & Doing
In our training, there is a strong emphasis on the person of the practitioner. We believe that our way of being is just as important as our knowledge and skills. We cannot expect you to do work that we are not prepared to do ourselves. We must do our own work, we must practice what we preach, and we take this responsibility very seriously.
We believe that a strong therapeutic relationship requires real (genuine, not phony) human connection and collaboration. From the very outset, we will work with you to form a genuine connection, set goals, and receive your feedback about the direction and effectiveness of sessions.