Counselling Approach

Engage 1on1 psychology services include a range of counselling and therapy techniques. Our Psychologists combine appropriate elements of each technique to provide an individualised service. Some of the key evidence based therapy techniques used are:

A brief overview of these techniques is included below.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a structured therapy that helps people recognise and change unhelpful patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. It is widely researched, showing significant results in managing mood, reducing anxiety and improving coping skills across life. It involves practical self-help strategies intended to make positive and immediate changes in your quality of life.

Mindfulness is a mental state of awareness, focus and openness, which allows you to engage fully in what you are doing at any moment. In a state of mindfulness, difficult thoughts and feelings have much less impact and influence over you which consequently increases awareness of thoughts, feelings, body sensations and surrounding environment. Being mindful does not mean ignoring distracting thoughts and feelings but rather acknowledge and observe thoughts nonjudgmentally as they arise. It aims to create a detachment from them and gain insight and awareness. Research informs us that practicing mindfulness, even for just a few weeks, can bring a variety of physical, psychological, and social benefits. Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that focuses awareness on breathing and encourages positive attitudes to achieve a healthy, balanced mental state. Mindful meditation is known for reducing reactions to stress by inducing the relaxation response, lowering the heart rate, reducing anxiety and encouraging positive thought patterns and attitudes. It helps foster self-awareness and a nonjudgmental, loving, kind, and compassionate feeling toward ourselves and others.

This evidence based therapy fosters the child’s innate potential, encouraging the unique development and inner growth of children in their primary school aged years. In this Play Therapy approach, the Play Therapist enters the world of the child, following the child’s lead, developing a safe place and a relationship of trust. Play is the child’s natural language and the toys can be used like words. It allows healing for children experiencing emotional, psychosocial, behavioural and developmental difficulties.

Self-compassion involves being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or inundating ourselves with self-criticism. Self-compassionate people recognise that being imperfect, failing, and experiencing life difficulties is inevitable, so they tend to be gentle with themselves when confronted with painful experiences rather than getting angry when life does not meet their set of ideals. Self-compassion Therapy intends to be emotionally healing and nurturing. It utilises mindfulness practice to support and increase our awareness in the present moment when we’re struggling with feelings of inadequacy, despair, confusion, and other forms of stress and teaches to respond with kindness and understanding. Your psychologist supports you in learning to hold difficult emotions like fear, anger, sadness, shame and self-doubt in loving awareness, leading to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence based therapy which works on the relationship we establish with our thoughts. It teaches psychological skills to deal with your painful thoughts and feelings effectively, where they have much less impact and influence over you. ACT empowers individuals to accept what is out of their personal control, and commit to act on areas that improve their life. You work through with your psychologist what is important and meaningful to you, drawing on your values and using this to guide, inspire and motivate you to change your life for the better.

Solution focused therapy (SFBT) is often referred to as brief therapy, where goals are collaboratively established to make therapeutic change. SFBT places focus on a person’s present and future circumstances and goals rather than past experiences. In this goal-oriented therapy, you work supportively with your psychologist to develop an idea of the future to determine the skills, resources, and abilities needed to achieve that idea successfully.

Schema therapy is an integrative therapy for personality disorders, chronic depression, and other difficult problems for individuals and couples. Schema therapy integrates elements of cognitive therapy, behaviour therapy, interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies into one unified, systematic approach. Schema therapy also has elements of mindfulness meditation. It can be very effective in helping individuals make changes to their negative/unhelpful patterns which can feel hard to shift.