RELATIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPY AND SHORT TERM COUNSELLING IN rickmansworth, Northwood and Pinner
With Dan Bennett, b.Sc hons, mbacp
My Approach
I'm an Integrative Psychotherapist offering a confidential and calming space to facilitate a journey of self-discovery in which you can develop an understanding of how to cope with the prevailing challenges in your life, understand and regulate your emotions and work-through the impact of past-trauma.
It is very common that when people first engage in therapy it is partially because there are circumstances and recurring patterns in their life and they don’t understand the reasons why, or how to overcome these difficulties.
Initially, talking therapy is a way to explore and understand how our past experiences relate to present day issues in our lives and provides a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of how we coped with adversity as children, our historical and present patterns of behaviour, our relationships with others and the way we react to and view the world around us.
The purpose of this is to fully understand how the past impacts the present so that this understanding can be used to create a different future and regain control of our lives in whichever ways we choose to do so. The process of talking therapy can be very cathartic and help to alleviate distress as we find adequate words to describe our past experiences.
Therapy will help you to understand the ''Unconscious'' or ‘Consciously unknown’’ dynamics of the mind and helping you to explore deeper parts of yourself in a way that can enable you to liberate your mind and gain freedom from past trauma, repressed emotion and unwanted patterns of thought and behaviour. This will help you to develop a healthier relationship with yourself and others and find greater fulfillment whilst regaining control over the direction of your life.
Once the impact of past experience has been explored and worked-through therapy moves towards thinking about shaping the future which is based upon each persons values and identity so that the focus of therapy is about personal growth and finding meaning and purpose in life. Simply put, much of our choices in life have been orientated towards survival mechanisms and coping with adversity and once these patterns are understood and resolved it is then possible to think about making choices that relate to creating a future that is full of meaning and purpose and one that fits with your identity. It is during this stage that further healing takes place as the person starts to think thoughtfully about how to create the life that they desire without past patterns undermining their best efforts to be in control of their destiny. This process supports the aim of regaining control of your life in the ways that become apparent in therapy, so that you can become the best version of yourself and be increasingly whole - whilst continuing to develop greater resilience to the challenges and changes that life can bring.
Aims of Therapy
My aim is to help you develop expanded self-awareness, self-autonomy, greater choice and freedom from past patterns, reactions and unwanted behaviours.
This helps to give you a greater sense of personal power and control of the direction in your life so that you can find peace and contentment and a life full of personal meaning and purpose.
Self-Observation
I use mental self-observation techniques and help my clients to connect how it feels to talk about an experience which helps to establish the connection between mind and body.
Connecting mind and body in meaningful way helps to create an expanded self-awareness and ability to understand your emotions
This connection between Mind and Body helps to facilitates the healing and release of past- trauma and repressed emotions in a gentle way whilst talking-through the impact of traumatic or challenging experiences.
Unconscious Patterns
As therapy progresses patterns of mental reactions, internal dialogue, thoughts and behaviours will start to become clearer along with the reasons for them.
Understanding these internal patterns is an important part of therapy as it helps people to understand the deeper reasons for their actions and choices and why situations seem to reoccur in a cyclical or repetitive pattern.
Therapy will also help you to understand the reasons why you have adpated to view life in your own unique way and how this has impacted your relationship with yourself and others.
Culture and Diversity
Within my approach to therapy I work multi-culturally with people from all walks of life and understand the differing challenges we all face that relate to diversity, identity and integration.
I work with an understanding of historical and cultural context with knowledge of how these issues can affect the mental health of people subjugated to these experiences, whichever heritage and walk of your life you come from.
The opportunity to talk through and resolve the impact of trauma related to issues of identity can be a very powerful and liberating experience with the opportunity to heal wounds from the past.
Some of the psychological and mental health conditions that can benefit from this approach are:
Abuse (all types)
Anxiety Disorders
Anger
Alcohol Dependency
Bereavement
Binge Eating
Bi-Polar
Couples Relationship Issues
Depression
Drug(s) Addiction
Eating Disorders (Anorexia and Bulimia)
Family Conflict and Relational Issues
Gambling Addiction
Gaming Addiction
Social Media Addiction
Obssessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Pain Management
Panic Attacks
Personality Disorders
Post-Traumatic Stress
Psychosis
Restlessness
Separation and Relational Loss
Suicidal Ideation
Trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress
Benefits of Psychotherapy
Could you benefit from having a calming and safe place to talk outside of your family and friends to help you work-through and resolve the prevailing issues in your life?
Ways that Psychotherapy can benefit your life?
- To talk through the issues that are impacting your life
- to explore your thoughts and feelings and gain clarity
- to better understand yourself and get back on the front foot again
- to remove the blocks that are hindering your progress in life pusuits
- to feel understood in a non-judgemental space
- to harness your inner strength and resilience
- to cope better with the stresses and strains of everyday life.
- helping you to understand the psychological components of physical discomfort and helping you to manage bodily pain