Endeavour therapy offers one to one, couples or group talking therapy in a neutral setting. This is either in the therapy room or outdoors with walking, talking therapy. As an integrative therapist, Lisa is trained to use a variety of different psychotherapeutic methods. Here are three key methods.
Person Centred Therapy
Person centred therapy is an approach which deals with the way an individual perceives themselves consciously. Created by Carl Rogers in the 1950s, the therapy ultimately sees human beings as having an innate tendancy to develop towards their full potential. However, this ability can get blocked or distorted by some life experiences, particularly experiences which call our sense of value into question.
There are a lot of factors that can affect a person’s ability to flourish including low self esteem, a lack of self reliance and little or no openness to new experiences. With this in mind, therapy sessions are offered in a neutral and comfortable setting where a client can feel at ease, authentic and open to learning about themselves. To help a client achieve personal growth, the counsellor should always offer;
- Congruence – the counsellor must always be completely genuine
- Empathy – the counsellor must strive to understand the client’s experience
- Unconditional positive regard – the counsellor must be non-judgemental and valuing.
This non-direct style of person centred counselling is thought to be more beneficial to people with an urge to explore themselves and their feelings or those who want to address a particular psychological habit or pattern of thinking.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
CBT can be a really powerful way of dealing with specific issues such as anxiety, depression, phobias; or addressing a specific problem like managing anxiety at work, managing a challenging relationship more positively etc.
If you like to think about your problems in a structured manner and hone techniques to give you better control in managing and addressing these difficulties, this may be the method for you.
Sessions start with identifying and exploring your problem(s) then agreeing “homework” tasks together with your therapist. These tasks are different techniques you will experiment with to find the best solution for you. Some examples can include writing diaries, thought records or experimenting with different behaviours and noting the outcomes.
CBT is a more directive style of therapy to person centred and has been widely recognised as the easiest to measure way of treating anxiety and depression.
Transactional Analysis (TA)
Transactional Analysis (TA) was developed by the psychologist Eric Berne in the 1950s. In therapy, TA can be used to address a person’s interactions and communications with the aim of establishing and reinforcing the idea that each individual is valuable and has the capacity for positive change and growth. Drawing on some of Sigmund Freud’s works, Berne bases TA on 3 ego states;
- Parent – a set of feelings, attitudes and behaviours taken from parents and other significant adult figures; usually during the first five years of a child’s life. These form the fundamental “should’s” and the “ought to’s” a person carries through life.
- Child – primarily a set of feelings. The spontaneous needs and wants preserved from childhood. The child ego state also contains what are effectively a set of ‘recordings’ of childhood memories, experiences and raw emotions. So, when a person feels and acts as they did when they were young, their are experiencing their child ego state.
- Adult – the integrated stance of Child and Parent, the adult ego state comes from a rational and logical position of thinking in the “here and now” whilst able to access the feelings and attitudes of the other two ego states. The adult ego state seeks balance in it’s decision making.
TA helps to develop an awareness of the inner dialogue of our ego states. This can help a person to identify old strategies and coping mechanisms that may have been helpful once, but might hinder them today. Being aware of these dialogues can also help someone identify what they might want to change in themselves in order to experience a more satisfying life.