How We Will Work Together

We will use conversation and our relationship to build a therapeutic connection. Then we will use our relationship to begin to explore your emotional and mental world. As you speak about your life’s circumstances beginning with what brought you into therapy, we will listen with a lens focused on aspects of yourself that may or may not be fully in your awareness. We will listen to influences coming from within and without. We will be asking as to how these influences affect your mood and your choices. This will give us a greater appreciation of the push and pull you feel moment to moment, day to day.

We will be listening with finely-tuned ears to hear what you would like to know about yourself. This endeavour may, as it often does, start with a discussion about symptoms – which are signals of discomfort or distress, for example, anxiety and depression. The symptoms are often signs that tell us life is not going as you would like. Our task, then, is to listen to the meaning of the symptoms – the psychological story behind the symptoms. As the meanings of symptoms are often far from transparent, I will be inviting you to become curious about them, to engage an inquisitive mind about yourself and your life’s circumstances. The working relationship we build together will help us move forward in our quest for not just a greater appreciation of your experience of life, but also for possibilities of change.

To speak in depth about yourself may not be easy. We will take time to build a trusting connection, a therapeutic rapport that will make our time together a safe space for self-exploration and self- revelation. I will help you take these steps.

Many people, especially those new to therapy, worry they have nothing to say about themselves or don’t know where to begin. In time this will become easier. The more we dig into the work, the more interesting the work becomes: Memories long-buried rise to the surface; fantasies long abandoned return to mind; dreams become easier to remember and, often more meaningfully profound.

Psychotherapy is about change. People often enter into therapy because they are dissatisfied with certain aspects about themselves or their life’s circumstances. The more we are curious about how you have arrived at your particular point in life, the richer our work becomes. At the same time, change will usually come slowly. We will have to negotiate many twists and turns on the road to a different reality. Just as a small child does not learn to speak or walk in a day, progress in therapy is often two steps forward, one step back. Your pursuit of a different experience of yourself will require a dedicated commitment: We will build that commitment together.