Ms Heather Adams

A conversation with Heather Adams

• What led you to choose psychotherapy or counselling as a profession?

  Life has certainly taught me much and having overcome significant personal and professional challenges, led me to want to support and encourage others who were also struggling and in need of assistance. I obtained a Bachelor of Social Science - Counselling degree as a mature age student, to equip myself with the necessary skills to become a well trained, accredited, passionate and compassionate psychotherapist and counsellor.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  Carl Jung was I believe certainly correct when he stated 'Who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes.' This has certainly been the experience for my own journey. The integration of mind and body that is possible when we approach life with an intent listening to the body was an inspiring discovery and one I am passionate to share with others - somatic psychotherapy is an important part of my eclectic repertoire. Neuroscience has opened new possibilities for greater awareness and informs much of my practice today. As Bessel van der Kolk says 'Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves.'

• Which particular aspects of health or the human journey are you interested in?

  The human journey is certainly varied and I have unequivocally discovered that there is no one solution! I am always amazed at the potential and innate wisdom that is so often found within. I would say I am interested in facilitating this journey of discovery. We tend to try to avoid pain and suffering however we can and see suffering as something that shouldn't be part of life. But it is, and always will be. The secret to dealing with suffering or pain is being willing to courageously accept and experience it rather than constantly avoiding it. As Angela Mayou says "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.'

• What methods do you use?

  I bring an eclectic, holistic and creative approach to therapy which is informed by the latest neurobiological research and theoretical frameworks from the following modalities:
  • Somatic/Body Psychotherapy
  • Person Centered Therapy
  • Narrative Therapy
  • Internal Family Systems
  • Gestalt Therapy
  • Existential Therapy
  Therapy sessions are designed to be holistic, experiential and motivating. Each session is tailor-made to suit your needs. Sessions involve psychoeducation, free associations and many opportunities for experiments with thoughts, behaviours, body movements and ideas. Our work centres around your therapy goals, and your search for answers and resolutions to often difficult questions.

• When do you think the client will start to feel that progress is being made?

  I believe work in psychotherapy is about healing through the integration of psyche and body. When you attend for therapy, you may experience change from the beginning, or no big change for weeks or months. You may talk about the same things in circles before something happens: an insight, an understanding, an 'aha' moment, a gush of emotions, a relief from tension. When and how we get to this point in therapy is usually not foreseeable. The process can be described as to be like titration. You make small steps. There is no explosion, but natural, holistic change.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  My own personal therapy, mandatory through four years of study and ongoing supervision over the past 11 years, has given me the capacity to sit alongside deep anguish, despair and other intense and often traumatic emotions and not be overwhelmed, judgmental or all-knowing. It has given me the capacity for insight and to develop trust in whatever unfolds in any session is an opportunity towards emotional and physical healing. This has certainly been my own personal experience.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  Establishing and maintaining the therapeutic alliance is perhaps to me the most important part of the therapy. To facilitate a healthy working therapeutic alliance - where one can really be heard and understood, as trust between a client and myself develops, is in deed a privilege. It is an honor to be so trusted by another. I have to admit it is the relationship that connects and supports the sometimes challenging work, between myself and my client, that is the best part of being a therapist.
  

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  Crikey - no - yes - of course - I am human is my reply! What I have learnt is 'resilience' and that 'courage' is something to aspire to after one of 'those days'. As Brene Brown says 'Sometimes the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up' and that is as true for me the therapist as it will be for you the client.

• What do you think is the most significant problem we face, in the world today?

  Lack of meaningful relationships with one another and the cosmos appear to me to be significant. I sense there is an upwelling of grief and anger that grows beneath our distracted and hectic lives. Existential crises are all around and my hope is that together we can find creative ways to heal both our individual humanity and our cosmos.

• Can you share the name of a book, film, song, event or work of art that inspires you?

  I am a Disney tragic - Lilo & Stitch where 'no one gets left behind' is certainly a favourite as are many of the Disney classics. Andre Bocelli has the capacity to move me to tears. John O'Donohue touches a deep place within. Judy Cannato and 'Field of Compassion' inspiring. Artistic masterpieces created out of love and with such concentration, imaginatively drawn and filled with colour, gifts from little ones just for me!