Psychotherapeutic Counseling is a form  of in depth counseling  which  adopts a
relational - developmental  focus with the goal of  fostering the client's personal
growth and development,  in the context  of their life and current circumstances.
It is distinguished from traditional counseling by its emphasis on the  co-creation
of an in-depth therapeutic relationship; wherein you, the client, are to be viewed
holistically;  body,  mind and soul  and in the context of a  concrete  life situation
and developmental stage.

Bereavement  and loss,  although associated  with pain,  sadness and  feelings of
numbness, is a normal part of what it means to be human. Everyone experiences
loss and bereavement in the course of their lives.  Grief can occur following a loss
of great significance such as the death of spouse, parent or child; or experiencing
divorce, or even loss of a livelihood.

When a meaningful loss occurs, a person normally moves from a period of severe
emotional  pain and  sadness to  a more  comfortable  introspective  state  over a
period  of  time, this  is described  as  the  grieving process.  It may  take  several
months  or  sometimes  years  to complete  this  process.  No  one  can prevent a
person from entering the grieving process; however Bereavement Counselling can
validate  and  normalise  the grieving  experience.  We can  help and  support  the
individual as they go through this  process by providing a safe space for the person
to talk about their loss as we assist them in their healing process.

Understanding the grieving process can be very helpful. Loss can take many forms;
death,  unemployment,  divorce,   leaving  home  etc.  and  mourning  is a  normal
response to change in the process of our life time.

Often  the loss of  a relationship,   whether  through a break-up,  separation   or a
divorce  can   be   an   especially  complicated    form  of  grieving  as  the  person
experiences rejection, anger and loss and a myriad of other mixed feelings. There
are  often complicated issues related  to the separation and  break up   of a couple
who have children and are parenting together. It can be very helpful to identify and
work through the grieving  process and how it is impacting on each member of the
family.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) endeavors to help you to
change the way that  you think, feel and behave. It is used as
a treatment for various mental health and  physical problems
including;  anxiety,   depression,  panic,   phobias  (including
agoraphobia  and social phobia),  stress,  bulimia,  obsessive
compulsive disorder, post-traumatic  stress disorder,  bipolar
disorder  and  psychosis.  CBT  may  also  help  if  you  have
difficulties  with anger,  a low opinion  of yourself or physical
health problems, like pain or fatigue.

CBT can  help you to change  how you think ('Cognitive') and
what  you do ('Behavioral').  These changes  can help  you to
feel better.  Unlike  some of the  other talking  treatments,  it
focuses  on  the  'here  and  now'  problems  and  difficulties.

Instead  of   focusing   on  the  causes  of   your  distress  or
symptoms  in  the  past, it  looks  for ways  to improve  your
present state of mind.

With  the therapist,  you break  each  problem down  into its
separate parts.  To help this process, you may be ask you to
keep  a diary.  This will help you  to identify  your  individual
patterns  of thoughts, emotions, bodily  feelings and actions.

Together  you  will  look  at  your  thoughts,   feelings  and
behaviors.   The therapist will help you to  work out how to
replace unhelpful or unrealistic thoughts and behaviors with
realistic thoughts and beneficial behaviors.

EMDR  is  a psychotherapeutic  procedure  that was  originated and  developed  by
Dr. Francine Shapiro in the  United Statesv in 1987. EMDR was  originally designed
to   help   traumatic   or  "dysfunctional"   memories  and   experiences  and   their
psychological consequences,  and the procedure has mainly been used to help Post
Traumatic  Stress  Disorder.  However EMDR has been  increasingly used over  the
years  to help  grief,  phobias, test  and  performance  anxiety,  anxiety  and  panic
disorders,  pain,  sexual  dysfunction,  and  a wide  range  of  experientially  based
disorders.

EMDR is an evidence based therapeutic procedure. That is, although the procedure
originally  developed  out of  self-observation,  the evolution  and development  of
the  procedure  has  been  dictated by  clinical and  research  findings.  Most of the
components in EMDR  are recognisable from  other well-known therapies although
they are  arranged in a  unique order.  However, one unusual  element in EMDR is
bilateral stimulation usually  in the form of eye movements, but also sometimes in
the form of bilateral auditory or tactile stimulation.

There  is  a  great  deal  of  evidence   that   bilateral  stimulation  speeds  up  the
reprocessing of  disturbing emotional or  traumatic material and at  the same time
helps the client feel safer in making contact with traumatic material.  A number of
replicated  research  trials  have  demonstrated  that eye  movements  reduce  the
vividness   of  emotional  and   traumatic  imagery.   It  is  believed  that  the  eye
movements  induced in  EMDR session  mirror the natural eye  movement process
that  occurs  in  the  REM  (Rapid  Eye  Movement)  phase of  sleep  during  which
information is processed naturally.