What is counselling?
This question invites me towards a deep sense of stillness and I take some quiet moments to lean in softly to feel my knowing before translating it into a written response. For me, it has always been about two hearts beating in the same space and, within minutes, beating in rhythm with each other. There is a union of energy, biology and psyche, mirroring the universal phenomena of spontaneous self-organisation towards synchrony. I read James Hillman describing that people come to counselling not to be fixed, but to be blessed.1 In so doing, the client can receive accurate witnessing of who they are from the unconditional and clear mirror which the counsellor or psychotherapist embodies. Being seen precedes seeing oneself. What counsellors and psychotherapists ‘do’ is support people to reconnect with, and reclaim, their innate potential, sacred intelligence and sense of belonging.
Inspired by my Greek roots, and the sage advice at the Temple of Delphi, it is my duty to know myself deeply by traversing the mythic underworld, dying deaths of the false self to uncover who I truly am, returning with discovered gold and the willingness to change my life to integrate my fresh insights and knowings. The more I fearlessly navigate these dimensions, the greater a guide I can be for others. We are torch bearers, holding a gentle light for those who choose to discover themselves. As a regular journeywoman, I know how to explore uncharted terrain, responding to what arises with tenderness and curiosity. Although this particular path is not mine, I know how to ensure we can descend and return safely and in trust.
Who has inspired you on your counselling journey?
As well as the amazing teachers I have had the honour of learning from, such as every client and every supervisee, my supervisors and tutors, I would like to say thank you to myself here. From a young age, deep in my bones, I knew I was a counsellor. With unwavering passion and dedication, I have trained and studied continuously, entering a vocation at a time when it was regarded very differently to how it is today. By listening to my heart’s knowing, I have authentically embodied counselling as a way of being and so I offer myself some compassion and witnessing. I have inspired me.
What does spirituality mean to you?
Spirituality is a coming home: a reunion. We are infinite beings having a human experience, and so everything, everywhere, all at once is available to me because it is within me, patiently waiting for me to knock on the door and say hello.
Most useful piece of advice for a student or newly qualified therapist
Develop a loving relationship with your body and trust the somatic intelligence within. This is the ground from which you shall know your clients. Take time before your sessions to centre yourself, to support your creative life force into embodied flow. And don’t be scared to name your niche and to put yourself out there and take up space. The world needs you.
Do you have a favourite quote?
‘First: my heart is my humanity, my courage to live, my strength and fierce passion. By means of it nothing is foreign to me; all can be admitted to its kingdom of dignity. My most noble virtues emanate from the heart: loyalty, heroic boldness, compassion, Second, my heart is an organ of the body. It is a muscle or a pump, an intricate mechanism and secret holder of my death. Third: my heart is my love, my feelings, the locus of my soul and sense of person. It is the place of intimate interiority, where sin and shame and desire, and the unfathomable divine too, inhabit.’ - James Hillman
‘The body is the womb of the soul, a begging bowl for spirit.’ - Gabrielle Roth
Favourite counselling book?
I love When Nietzsche Wept by Irvin Yalom with his beautiful exploration of the relationship between client and counsellor. I had the honour of meeting him a decade or so ago when he came to Paris for a lecture and we had a wee chat afterwards.
Favourite podcast or website?
Although I have my own show on Holistic Radio UK, ironically, I haven’t begun a relationship with podcasts yet! I do listen to Abraham Hicks or Wayne Dyer videos when I am getting ready in the morning. This helps me to raise my vibrations.
Favourite piece of music?
There are so many. What never fails to bring tears, give me goosebumps and stir my soul is the live version of Like a Prayer from Buenos Aires by Madonna. My body feels like it is being serenaded and there is sweet grief and relief to be honoured in movement.
Top tip for a successful supervision session
Supervision is a way to energetically and courageously clear the waters for yourself as a practitioner, and to support the ongoing integration on behalf of and in service to the client. It isn’t random that you will find something has shifted for your client after you have explored your work together in supervision.
I invite supervisees to consciously reconnect with their client, to animate the relationship somatically, to feel the resonance, the contractions, the deeply held information and from this knowing, to explore the work.
What is the most important issue facing the counselling world today?
One crucial issue is that, through the systematic abuse of mother earth, we resonate deeply through our increased sense of alienation and traumatisation in our personal lives, and as the collective we are. We need to hold space where earth’s story can be heard, where grief can be lamented, enabling reconnection to our responsibilities and for gentle activism to be borne.
References
1 Hillman J. Dream animals. San Fransisco: Chronicle Books; 1997.