Get in touch with me at info@thecounsellor.ie
BSc (Neuro), BSc (C&P), MB, BS., Dip. Pharm. Med. (Ire), DPM, FFPM
My Therapeutic Approach
In my four years of training I was schooled in the three main classical approaches to psychotherapy, namely Humanistic, Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioural Therapies. I integrate these approaches into my work with patients (clients) depending on the patient's needs and goals. From my study of Humanistic Psychotherapy I found an alignment with the Existential approach to therapy.
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The Existential approach, routed in philosophy, seeks to explore a person’s lived, moment-to-moment experience within the therapeutic relationship, which emphasises phenomenological exploration (how we experience something), an authentic encounter, search for meaning and the inevitability of uncertainty. Simply put a type of therapy based on your experience of your existence, it’s meaning and how you relate to that experience, yourself and others.
Counselling vs Psychotherapy?
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Counselling:
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Typically short-term and problem-focused.
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Deals with current issues and specific challenges (e.g., grief, stress, relationship problems, decision-making).
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More practical and supportive in nature.
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Psychotherapy:
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Usually longer-term and more in-depth.
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Explores deep-rooted emotional issues and patterns often rooted in past experiences (e.g., trauma, personality disorders, anxiety or low mood).
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Aims to bring about long-term psychological change.
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Why talk therapy?
As Shakespeare insightfully wrote, “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the over wrought heart and bids it break.”
Putting our thoughts and emotions into words is not a passive act—it transforms them. Speaking allows us to bring painful or tangled experiences into the light, where they can be processed, understood, and integrated into the broader narrative of who we are. This shift makes our feelings less overwhelming and more manageable, placing them under conscious control and expanding our freedom to respond differently rather than reacting automatically. As clarity grows, so do new possibilities—solutions that were once invisible begin to emerge.
Talking in therapy also fosters connection, drawing us out of isolation and into meaningful relationship, where we benefit from the soothing, regulating power of human attachment. This process strengthens our ability to feel empathy, deepens intimacy, and helps us bear emotional pain more effectively. It mobilises inner psychological resources and opens the door to new emotional development and growth. In short, words don’t just describe experience—they reshape it.