The core premise of Integral Counselling is to consider the full scope of factors that may influence our well-being and mental health. We look at the various social and cultural systems of which we are a part – family, friendships, work, and communities where specific interests are shared - and how these are connected with how we act and react in our daily lives.

By zooming out, we can more clearly see which contexts we are actively or passively participating in. By zooming in, we can uncover more details and see how they relate to the inner workings of our character.

Integral Counselling incorporates a range of evidence-based theories and approaches, such as relational therapy, narrative inquiry, existential therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, role-play, journaling and mindfulness. (Please find out more under Resources.)

In my practice, I put the emphasis on the relational and narrative aspects. This is to say, that we may look at our lives as consisting of memories and events, a collection of our personal stories, and of those who populate them. Seeing how these intertwining stories have emerged from our interactions with other people in our past helps us to decode the nature and the functions of our on-going relationships.

Together we explore suppressed or underestimated elements of some of those narratives, which may contribute to finding new perspectives and support transformation in all situations of life.

The sessions consist of collaborative inquiry around how choices are being made, around conscious and unconscious strategies for standing up to what life throws at us. The counselling relationship may also provide tools to revisit some of our deeper personal beliefs and to encourage us to look at how we can reconnect the dots in order to make sense of our current life story.