Your Issues

People come into counselling and psychotherapy for many different reasons including difficulty navigating through times of crisis, change, feelings of depression and/or anxiety, low self-esteem/self-worth or just because they are having difficulty with dealing with life itself. Clients do not always have to be in crisis to seek therapy and often they come into therapy really knowing what is going on for them why they are feeling the way they do, they just know that something is not right. Often people have co-existing issues that sometimes mask the 'real problem', however through the therapeutic processes we can explore the client's feelings, beliefs, and behaviours, work through their current and/or previously challenging situations, set personal goals, and assist the client to move toward change and restore the balance within their lives.  

Depression

Depression is a common mental disorder and is characterised by persistent sadness and a lack of interest or pleasure in previously rewarding or enjoyable activities.  It can also disturb sleep and appetite; tiredness and poor concentration are common. Depression is a leading cause of disability around the world and contributes greatly to the global burden of disease. The effects of depression can be long-lasting or recurrent and can dramatically affect a person’s ability to function. The causes of depression include complex interactions between social, psychological and biological factors, life events such as childhood adversity, loss and unemployment contribute to and may catalyse the development of depression. 

Anxiety 

Experiencing occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. However, people with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations often involving repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). Feelings of anxiety and panic interfere with daily activities, are difficult to control, are out of proportion to the actual danger and can last a long time. You may avoid places or situations to prevent these feelings. Examples of anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), specific phobias and separation anxiety disorder. You can have more than one anxiety disorder. Sometimes anxiety results from a medical condition that needs treatment. 

Other presentations we work with include: 

Anger/Stress

Relationship conflict

Self-esteem and self worth 

Addiction

Workplace conflict

Feelings that things just aren't right.

 We work with people that often present to therapy with more complex issues including Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); complex trauma; personality disorders including (BPD); mood disorders as well as complicated grief and complex anxiety. We apply specific modalities to assist the therapist in identifying the origins of their emotional distress and provide specific evidence based treatment plans and strategies to assist the client to understand their disorder/illness and learn new skills to reduce their emotional distress and discomfort. As with most therapy approaches the aim is for the client to work with the therapist in identifying their emotional discomfort and dysregulation, learn new skills to manage, learn distress tolerance, regulate their emotions and eventually move to a place of acceptance and a new way of living.     

 Personality Disorders

 There is a wide range of personality disorders and all of them involve a pervasive pattern of behaviour, which means that the characteristic behaviours and thoughts are evident in almost all aspects of a person’s life.  People with personality disorders experience extreme thoughts and feelings – so intense, they have trouble coping with day-to-day life. They act in ways they can’t control, and struggle to relate to situations and people. As a result of these challenges, they often experience significant problems and limitations in their relationships, social encounters, work and schooling. People with personality disorders don’t always realise they have a disorder because their way of thinking and behaving seems so natural to them. 

 Grief and Loss (Bereavement)  

Grief and loss are part of life and is experienced by most of us at some point in life. People deal with grief in many different ways, and not necessarily going through a predictable group of ‘stages,’ although some do. How people grieve can depend on the circumstances of the loss (e.g., sudden death, long illness, death of a young person) as well as past experiences of loss. There is no time limit on grief - some people get back to their usual routine fairly quickly, others take longer. Some people prefer time alone to grieve, others crave the support and company of others.  Complicated grief is a general term for describing when people adjust poorly to a loss. This is very difficult to define, as there is no standard which limits what is normal or healthy grief.  

Other client presentations we treat include:

Mood disorders

Bipolar Disorders

Complex anxiety

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Eating disorders

Suicide and self-harming behaviours