Helen Brittan

A conversation with Helen Brittan

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

  My own search for meaning, purpose, growth and healing in this life, has been a constant source of inspiration and recovery from my own issues. Living through loss, trauma, grief and other common human experiences has led to a desire to support others on this path also. While we cannot always choose what happens to us in this life, we can choose how we respond to it. I had the privilege & opportunity to retrain & up-skill in mid-life, from working in education to studying counselling and working in the not-for profit sector supporting women. I have found great purpose & joy in supporting others in their recovery journeys.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  I work within a broad Person-Centered framework, which offers respect and care for every individual, and recognises they are on their own unique journey through struggles. This approach holds with confidence that people can find their own solutions, with the right supports. I believe my job is to offer tools, skills, and a safe space to review and reflect on life and individual issues in ways that support the discovery of clients' strengths, resiliencies, and where the gaps are that may benefit from new inputs to support growth. I also borrow from Strengths-based & Positive psychology approaches, Mindfulness & Existential approaches, Attachment theory and use other therapeutic modalities, such as Internal Family systems (IFS), Schema Therapy, EMDR and Image Rescripting to promote change to unhelpful core beliefs, low self-esteem and other trauma impacts.

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

  I am passionate about supporting women to become more empowered in their lives. From birth, many people (including most women) are socialised by family, culture and society to be over accommodating and disempowered in particular ways. While social and legal change has led to good progress in legal protection for women & minorities and the increasing recognition of their rights, these benefits can be difficult to access and there are many practical impediments to accessing basic rights both in Australia and around the world. For example, a simple lack of knowledge about your rights can disempower you, as can poverty, fears of authority figures, and a lack of supportive resources such as emergency housing, timely police responses or court orders among many others. I have seen the impacts of these impediments on women's lives and want to ensure they are empowered long before these crises arise in their lives. My skills and passions are in working with individuals, one person at a time to effect change.

• What methods do you use?

  When a client reaches out to me, I offer a conversation to learn about their situation and needs and to discuss how I may be able to support them, or to point them in a different direction, if that will serve them better. Once an appointment is made, I send the client an intake pack with all the information they need to commence therapy, and in the first 2-3 sessions I listen, ask questions and build up a picture of each persons' life while considering what modalities and ways of working might suit their personality, strengths and needs. I discuss this with the client and answer their questions. We then go on to the work in a way that is tailored to the client's needs & pacing but with flexibility to adjust as needed at any time. The main methods and modalities I use are described above, and include Schema, IR, IFS, and EMDR for trauma.

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

  I always hope the client will feel better during the first session. They have made a brave decision and taken their first step to healing. My goal is to listen and help the client feel understood...to feel "I have met someone who feels safe, and who 'gets it'. " To feel that "this therapist is supportive, credible, knows her stuff, and works with me as an equal". To feel that there is both support AND the freedom to be in charge of their own process, that this is a partnership, not "a specialist telling me what to do". Each client brings to therapy essential information without which the therapist cannot work, and the therapist also has skills and information that will assist the client. This makes it a uniquely collaborative process that I hope empowers my clients. I hope every client will walk out of the first session feeling a sense of renewed hope, that change, and healing are possible, and that I can support them on this journey. While there will be times the process may feel hard, or that you are 'unravelling' before getting 'better', these times can be managed. You will be supported through them and you will emerge a stronger wiser person, more in charge of your life, than you felt when you started in therapy.
  While I cannot predict if each individual journey will take 6 weeks, 6 months or 6 years (it depends on many factors such as your starting point, frequency of sessions and your goals) ...client feedback tells me most clients will leave the process having learned a great deal about themselves, about relating to others and have resolved some, if not all of the issues that concerned them.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  Therapy has helped me to know myself better, to heal from some deep early life traumas and given me many frameworks and lenses through which to view the world and other people. I have found the main benefit to understanding myself and others better is the increased FLEXIBILITY it has given me in responding to life. Thinking about what I have control over has helped me to let go of that which I cannot change, and to place my efforts where they can be most productive and serve both myself and others best. I have learned I cannot please everyone, boundaries are essential in life and sometimes, radical acceptance is needed to heal from losses we cannot control or change. Most importantly, I have learned to care for & trust myself more, to listen to my needs, honour my strengths and understand my frailties and vulnerabilities. My self-esteem is now 'good enough' to sustain me without becoming arrogant, my capacity to accept imperfection and difference has expanded, and my management of my life decisions has improved. I am so grateful for all I have gained in my own process of therapy.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  I get significant joy from seeing clients come to places of greater self-acceptance and kindness. I love seeing clients develop insights about themselves, their lives and journeys that lift burdens of false guilt, blame and shame from their shoulders... and when they take action to protect themselves from harm and improve their own lives. I love seeing the recent discoveries of neuroscience in action through EMDR, through people discovering that no matter how old you are, it is NEVER too late to change and grow as a person, that our brains retain some plasticity to the end of life, and this can be used to improve our wellbeing & heal old traumas at any stage. I love it when clients try out new ways of being in their lives, whether this is improved self-care or learning to hold boundaries and make assertive statements to protect their rights and needs. Finally, I love it when clients tell me they feel ready to take a break and 'road test' their growth without the support of therapy. WOW! that is really what it's all about for me.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  Not sure what this question means exactly....are we talking about my literal hair? (yes, I have bad hair days like everyone) or my practice of therapy? Being human...I make 'mistakes' and always will...but I strive very hard to be professional and make as few as possible avoidable blunders. However, when they happen, I take responsibility and act professionally to help heal the rupture in the relationship, or the 'mistake', and restore a feeling of calm and trust in the work. No-one is perfect, including a therapist, and sometimes the 'mistakes' can be a good source of growth for both client and therapist if reflected on together. To this end I encourage my clients to talk to me about any confusion or concerns they may experience.

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

  I often think of the once famous story of this very question being posed as an essay question to academics and thinkers in the UK. The prize-winning answer was provided by G.K Chesterton (early 20th century author, philosopher, apologist & critic), who submitted the following:
  
  Dear Sir,
  I am.
  Yours sincerely,
  G. K. Chesterton.
  
  I think the mental health crisis we have in our world leads to many of the biggest problems we have, and that prioritising MH care would save governments billions from their health budget, help parents to parent better, make happier, healthier societies and prevent wars. For example, imagine if certain world leaders actually believed that others have rights to peace and safety? Maybe they would not bully or invade their neighbours. Imagine if we had the tools to address trauma from war, genocide, family breakdown & to offer them to support people at every stage of life? Imagine if we taught social and communication skills, if we discussed human rights, ethics and philosophy more in schools...would we develop more stable and wise leaders, instead of mere technocrats? Imagine if the almighty dollar was not the measure of a healthy society, or productivity was measured differently, what if we made low crime rates, low wealth disparity and good mental and physical health outcomes the measures of societies strength instead of just economic output or the strength of the dollar. It's all so backwards. How can we have unending economic growth in a world with finite resources? Different, more respectful (healthier) ways of thinking about these problems would go a long way to solving them. To paraphrase the great philosopher "as we think, so we are" or "we create from how we think and believe".

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

  Hmmmm...
  
  George Eliot: Middlemarch. An early feminist & 'psychologist', who wrote:
  
  Prelude:
  "Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heartbeats and sobs after an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances, instead of centering on some long recognisable deed."
  Finale:
  (But)....."the growing good of the world is partly dependent on un-historic acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half-owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
  
  We can't all be heroes and superstars, but the dogged work of the unfamous (doctors, nurses, teachers, therapists, and all other 'technicians of life') also contributes to 'the growing good of the world". I hope my work falls into the category of "making the world a better place overall".