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 “We always felt like Dianne really respected our feelings during our sessions. She wasn’t afraid to call us on some of our unhealthy communication patterns but she did it with respect and humour, always providing us with more helpful strategies and tools to go home with and apply in our daily lives”.
- A.& W., North Vancouver |
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TREATMENT PHILOSOPHY
At the very core of my work are four basic elements: authenticity, safety, respect and hope. I enter into the client/therapist relationship respectful of the client’s story, always cognizant of his/her uniqueness and value. I embrace and strictly adhere to the ethical standards of my profession and I am committed to “do no harm”.
My theoretical approach is influenced by the underpinnings of two therapeutic models, these being Rational-Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) and Solution-Focused Therapy. A brief description of these models follows: |
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REBT
There is a beauty to the logic of this approach. REBT rests on the assumption that people’s problems are a result of distorted thinking, which addresses the power of the meaning people place on their experiences and how they are influenced by them. Albert Ellis describes it as an ABC paradigm. Point A (activating event, behaviour, feeling or attitude) leads to Point B (belief about the event), which in turn results in Point C (emotional or behavioural consequence). If nothing disputes Point B, Point C is experienced over and over the same way. Point B is the crucial step. This is where the therapist facilitates an investigation into the origin of these thoughts and creates the opportunity to see the baselessness of the belief about the event, the distorted thinking pattern. The ultimate goal is a more productive belief resulting in a more productive reaction. |
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SOLUTION-FOCUSED THERAPY
The philosophical foundation of this model is that we carry around a lot of baggage that is simply not useful to revisit and to spend a lot of time doing just that is, at best superfluous, and at worst, harmful. There is no question that many of us are preoccupied by what is missing in our lives. It seems we just don’t know how to focus on our strengths, our inherent resources. Solution-Focused therapy provides the space for the client and therapist to explore these strengths and resources by bringing their respective experience and expertise into the room, seeking what works for the client, all the while truly believing that the client knows what that is. This model recognizes and is committed to the belief that people possess the skills needed to reach a realistic solution to their problem but the problem has become so big these skills have become invisible. Rather than trying to change others, the client is encouraged to change his/her self in relation to interaction with others. The client is provided with the opportunity to re-envision their situation with hope and possibility. This is achieved through a solid, step-by-step pragmatic exploration of what has to happen for the problem to no longer have the power it once had.
While these therapeutic models guide my work, I am aware that alternate approaches may be more appropriate or effective. Counselling is not a science, it often requires a “gut reaction”. It is the intangibles of the human experience that feed my passion for this work. |
