I offer psychotherapy and counselling for individuals and couples in Sydney’s Double Bay, and also online.
I have over 17 years experience working with a range of clients and with a mix of modalities, including Jungian, Gestalt, Humanistic person-focused therapy and Attachment Theory.
I have a particular interest in working with Archetypal Psychology, as richly explored by James Hillman.
Soul is … the imaginative potential within the individual, the ability to experience through reflective speculation, dream image and fantasy. Through its special relationship with the mythical underworld and with death, it gives life and death meaning and purpose. – UIA on Archetypal Psychology
(An article that describes Hillman’s approach to the soul.)
I also offer Depth Enquiry, a powerful therapeutic approach for resolving trauma and underlying shame.
Issues & areas of focus
Here are some of the presenting issues I work with:
- Depression and loss of soul
- Dream inquiry and active imagination
- Drug, alcohol and porn addictions
- Marriage and relationship difficulties
- Difficulties within family systems
- Austism
- Transgender and transitioning
- ADHD.
Ethos
“…the definition of man is the definition of his soul.” – Aristotle, Metaphysics, Bk VI Ch XI.
I’m committed to pursing a life of depth and soul; and supporting and encouraging my clients to have their own unique experiences of inner richness.
I see psychological modalities as models, attempts to explain and elucidate the mysteries of human psychology, and very helpful in that regard. But we should hold them all lightly in the relationship that takes place in the therapy room, and see them as various lenses in the service of the therapeutic encounter.
Underlying my approach is a commitment to James Hillman’s view that we need, collectively, to restore soul to the psyche – and that we can do that through a reverence for the imaginal; through image-making, myth, story, image and dream. As Hillman says, the psyche naturally makes images.
“My emphasis is upon shaping, handling, and doing something with psychic stuff. It is a psychology of craft rather than a psychology of growth.” – James Hillman, The Dream and the Underworld, p13.
Resources – Therapy Duo
You can find a wealth of resources relating to psychotherapy on Therapy Duo – the site of my joint practice with my wife, Amanda Gruhn.
- We’ve written blog posts over a number of years
- See also our Resources page.
