Sessions are 60 minutes although with children they are around 45 minutes.  Groups are 90 minutes.

I hate to give an annoying answer but it really does depend.  Some clients like to do blocks of 6 or 12 sessions and review to make sure the therapy is making progress, others are happy to keep it more open ended.  Doing a piece of work then taking a break can be reallyWhat  useful too.  My commitment to you is that I will tell you if I believe we are not making progress and I will refer you to trusted colleagues if I feel that would be of greater benefit.  Then I want to not give you a single session more than you need and want!

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a non-pathologising, respectful way of getting to know the “parts” of us that might be tripping us up; perhaps holding a lot of anxiety, or urging unhelpful behaviours or beliefs.  Befriending these different sides of us helps us become more compassionate, present and free in our lives.

IFS is pretty unique to other therapies in that there are two therapists in the room!  There’s me and there is YOU!  The You which is not a “part”, does not hold extreme beliefs or tricky behaviours and can bring curiosity and compassion to even the hardest situations.  Much of the beauty of this model is when clients start to experience living more in this energy of Curiosity, Courage and Compassion.

IFS is an evidenced based therapy which has proven effective with Trauma, Chronic Illness, Life transitions, Phobias, Compulsions and Addictions, Anxiety and Depression.  My particular knowledge and experience is around:  Panic, Childhood Sexual Abuse, Voice wounds, Unburdening Motherhood, Relationships and parenting, Child distress and emotional dysregulation.

In the first session we will explore what issues you would like to have help with.  I will ask questions and get a sense of what is concerning you.  Together we will decide on a treatment plan and sometimes there will be time for some hypnosis in the first session but most often it is mostly talking. This is a collaborative partnership and often there will be homework to help start to embed the changes into your life.  For example if you are experiencing a lot of anxiety I may suggest you listen to a mindfulness meditation that will help relax your fight flight nervous system.

This is really normal!  It can be hard for a child to believe this weird thing called “therapy” can help them.  There are three things that you can try:

1. Come and see me yourself, you are the ecosystem that your child lives in and so if you are in a good place that will help your child.
2. It can be helpful to suggest that this is an experiment; it can be part of a bunch of ideas you brainstorm together with your child.  Each idea can be tried and rated as part of the experiment.  You might aim your thinking at ideas to support their social life, physical well being, emotional life (play etc) and thinking life.  Going to school is very protective for all of these but if your child is not in school you might want to get creative.  If the conversation doesn’t go well you can come with your child and we can look at it together.
3. Check out “Collaborative Problem Solving” conversations (Check out this video) and this work sheet.