What to Expect
- The client directs the nature of the therapeutic relationship, with informed consent and clearly defined goals.
- I'll ask questions and listen to what you feel comfortable sharing. This is your opportunity to learn more about informed consent and of confidentiality. We'll get a sense of how I work and how we might work together.
- You ask questions. The more comfortable you feel about the counselling experience, the deeper the discussions. The type of therapy we might consider requires the client to understand the nature, purpose, risks, benefits and limitations of any given modality.
- I believe that the body and the mind function as a complex system of conversations. Trauma can and will manifest through psychosomatic symptomologies.
Thoughts
“There are times when I am half out of bed and fumbling for socks and mumbling for words before I realize that I am foolishly alone, that no one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly the waters of the pier. At such times only the grey corpses on the overflowing ashtray beside my bed bear witness to the extinction of the latest spark and silently await the crushing out of the most recent of their fellows.“
~ Alistair MacLeod! “The Boat” 1968
I read this short story when I was in high school and reread this paragraph over and over. Like a door opening slowly in my imagination the brilliance of Alistair Macleod’s writing filled my heart. The paragraph foreshadows the arc of the story of a man who is married to Cape Breton culture with every aspect of their lives revolving around the weather, the sea and the boat. As the narrator tells the story of his father, the reader smells the fish and the salty winds, and understands the metaphor of the small boat floating in a seemlingly endless ocean of responsibility. The father must continue to work on the boat even though he was not meant for the sea.
“Clearly the mind is always altering its focus, and bringing the world into different perspectives.“
~ Virginia WOOLF “A Room of One’s Own” 1929
I have read this book a number of times in my life and every time I feel a deeper meaning to Woolf’s narrative. The weight of bearing… “witness to the latest spark” not only in her day but of ours. How easy it is to sidestep a creative destiny until you are tripping over it.
“…will you get me out of this bird suit?”
~ Margaret Atwood “Siren” 1974
“Integrity is choosing courage over comfort. It’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast or easy. It’s practicing your values not just professing them.“
~ Brené Brown “Dare To Lead”, 2018
Brené Brown attends to courage and the correlation of courage to vulnerability. People behave so differently when they feel safe. Yet the mask wears us down, and strength looks like something else.
“To Thine Own Self Be True. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man“
~ Shakespeare, “Hamlet”, 1599 – 1601
“This was on an old ceramic mug that belonged to my grandmother and now sits on a shelf in my kitchen. The tricky thing here is that it took me a lifetime to come to terms with who I was, or rather, who I wasn’t. The process of elimination was excruciating but provided contrast when I was lucky enough to recognise myself again. I was so tired of trying to be something I wasn’t. Here I left the boat on shore and decided to dive in and swim. I wasn’t sure if I would survive the water but I knew for sure I wasn’t going to survive the boat.”