Counselling and Psychotherapy
My history of working with people stretches back thirty-five years now, so I am a deep resource of counselling experience. Counselling will enable you to better deal with psychological stress, parenthood, maintaining a long-term relationship, emotional upheavals, retirement and difficult passages of change over a lifetime.
Counselling – an opportunity relevant to everyone at some time in life.
When and how can counselling be helpful?
Most of us wish to be free to express ourselves, be heard and understood, to feel connected to those close to us, to be validated, not judged.
We hope to find our relationships intimate, supportive, nourishing and places of safe harbour.
We wish to be able to trust without fear, to extend ourselves and develop as we age.
We hunger for wisdom and insight, to enable our own personal development and enrichment.
Counselling is an opportunity to explore all these potentials and possibilities; to set our compass in any desirable direction of attainment and guides us towards our goals. It can be used to explore problematic everyday situations and to develop meaning.
Within a lifetime we shall encounter unexpected events, disappointments, losses, frustrations, bereavements, relationship shifts and of course, change. We shall be challenged by the vagaries of ageing and generational differences. Counselling provides ideas, perspectives, and a reflective space, that assist us to navigate such trials and tribulations. It helps us fine-tune our coping strategies and untapped strengths.
Counselling can be beneficial in all aspects of one’s life: as an individual, family member, relationship partner, and a member of a community group, friendship group or workforce.
Focus:
Dealing with Loss and Grief: the price of love and the gradual letting go
Bereavement: a time we don’t like to think about
Loneliness and Disconnection: our need to belong
Experiences of Anxiety: too much thinking ahead; low confidence
Couples: relationship dynamics and intimacy matters; where we get stuck
Depression: when one’s spirit is ‘pressed’ down
Relationships: starting, sustaining, or ending in the best way possible
Communication problems: new ways of having difficult conversations
The Inner Life: opening up to feelings and exploring their meanings
Stress-related conditions and chronic pain: managing discomfort and ill health
Poor sleep patterns: key to good health
Ageing well: navigating changes in identity and roles over a lifetime
What happens during a consultation?
A time purely devoted to your needs and wishes, a time to be heard, to explore and unpack, to be curious and imaginative.
The counselling session is an unconditional, confidential, empowering, and supportive talking therapy experience.
It enables a unique ‘therapeutic’ relationship, like no other in your life.
The counsellor works with LUV: to ‘Listen, Understand and Validate’.
You will leave with an enhanced sense of self and a heightened awareness of your strengths, competencies and problem-solving skills, which can be practically applied, in your everyday life.
OUTCOMES:
- Feeling supported and empowered.
- Optimising your strengths, skills and competencies.
- Be heard and accepted without judgement.
- Fresh ideas, multiple perspectives and options
- Practical and effective advice that works in the real world.
- Confidentiality in a comfortable and safe environment.
- A chance for you to explore your full potential.
- A unique focus on your needs as an individual, couple or family.
Clinic times:
Monday 9.00 am – 6.00 pm
Wednesday 9.00 am to 2.00 pm
Friday 9.00 am – 6.00 pm
Fees:
Individual:
$140.00 for your initial session and $130.00 for subsequent sessions.
Couples Counselling:
The initial session is one and one half hours ($160.00) and subsequent are one hour ($140.00)
Special Note:
Private Health Fund Rebates for Counselling.
Michael’s counselling services are rebatable through the following Health Funds:
Medibank Private, BUPA, TUH, AHM, Phoenix Health, St Luke’s Health, Police Health Fund and Emergency Services Health. As time passes.more finds are getting on board, so be sure to check with your health fund, if it is not one of these listed.
Sessions are one hour in duration and can be extended, by agreement, if necessary. For people living at a distance from the Brisbane Metropolitan area, a Zoom session can easily be arranged.
Counselling or Psychotherapy?
Counselling is generally understood as a process which helps people achieve their personal goals or to function more appropriately. It has tended to have an educational, situational and developmental focus, drawing on the client’s inherent awareness and competencies. Counselling enables a person to access multiple perspectives and options, broadening their sense of identity and opportunity. It is very much concerned with behavioral change. Counselling is a collaborative experience between counsellor and client, which is highly empowering.
Psychotherapy is seen as remedial in nature. I see it as an heuristic process, which means finding solutions by problem solving. Psychotherapy often sheds light on aspects of personal history and one’s belief systems , behaviours and habits and their influence on present day health, happiness, and the notion of satisfaction and personal potential. This means working towards reparative change in life, giving useful insights into chronic cycles of emotional and physical responses.