Ms Hope Michaelson

A conversation with Hope Michaelson

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

  The journey started when I applied to become a nurse and was advised I needed further education. The application process showed me I also had a penchant for mental health as well as physical health, so I originally completed my psychology and my education qualification with the goal of becoming a school counsellor in response to my personal experience of being a member of a large family of migrant parents, and the education system. My first post graduate position was working for Consulting Clinical Psychologists which involved answering the phone for the Sydney Branch of the Australian Psychological Society. When the practice was re-organised I continued further study in a health and somatic direction. My early training in psychotherapy and vibrational medicine led to my relocation to Wales, UK and I became a member of the National Federation of Spiritual Healers.
  
  I returned to Australia to live in northern New South Wales and the Gold Coast, and I worked for a number of Non Government Organisations where my interest in trauma and addictions led me to the practice of Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing and Clinical Hypnosis. When I returned to Sydney I worked in the Brain Dynamics Centre, Sydney University Medical School at Westmead as a research assistant for the Twin-E research (twins study of Wellbeing using Integrative Neuroscience of Emotion) which included administering electroencephalograms and working in tandem with the Westmead radiographers to capture and save the responses for functional MRI testing at Westmead. This position reinvigorated my enthusiasm for understanding how neuroscience can help the health of the soma and I completed my certificate in Clinical Applications of Mindsight & Interpersonal Neurobiology with Dr Dan Siegel, and commenced my 3 year training with the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute as founded by Dr Peter Levine. As a qualified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner® or SEP, I work with the understanding that the body is our biggest resource in processing the trauma which resides in our nervous system.
  
  As I learn more in this age of Neuroscience, I become more integrated and endeavour to offer the insights and changes I make as I look forward to the continued research in to mental, emotional, physical, & spiritual well being and quantum physics.
  

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  I have been influenced by cognitive constructivism, sociocultural and situativity theory, and as per the legacy left by Dr William James, the founder of psychology, and his proposal of "The Consciousness of Self' quoted, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind”.
  
  I am greatly influenced by the psychotherapy of EMDR which operates from an adaptive information processing model. As the big 'T' or little 't' for trauma is processed, the individual reorganises and adapts this information in making sense of the world. The influence of Mindfulness and Interpersonal Neurobiology is the most profound approach that I work with as encompassing the tools for integration.
  
  I believe we are strongly influenced by the culture we are born in to and the genetic coding we turn on and off. And I believe that when we change our belief system we can make any change we are working towards, and currently as a member of Humanity's Team, I have signed the Conscious Business Declaration and am learning about 'Conscious Business for a Thriving Earth' as I believe we are all a part of and effected by, the ecosystem of the planet earth.
  

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

  Having been born on a farm and experienced a childhood of being able to pick and eat fresh produce, I have always had an interest in health and believe “Food is Medicine”.
  
  I am also fascinated by our new age technology which has enabled the change in our belief to include changing our genetic inheritance and the neuroplasticity to change our brain. From an early age I have also worked with and studied spirituality as part of my conscious self. I believe that the direction is now moving toward understanding our spiritual self and when I studied at Arthur Findley College at Stansted, United Kingdom in the early 90's, there were scientists who had already captured this "other' dimension in their technology.
  

• What methods do you use?

  After I changed direction from psychology to naturopathy and Health Science, I studied wholistic counselling and psychotherapy which I continue to use. On returning to psychology in 2007 and working with traumatised clients and people with a disability, I studied Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR) which includes giving take-home resourcing techniques. As I began to have more trauma clients and was introduced to Dr Dan Siegel by STARTTS, when I returned to Sydney I commenced using Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) which is an integral part of my practice. I have also completed the 3 year training in Somatic Experiencing (SE) and am now a SEPractitioner as I believe the body is our biggest resource and we always have our body with us. Together with EMDR, Mindfulness & IPNB, SE, I also use hypnotherapy and other modalities as required by the client.

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

  As I include the body as a resource, the client can usually see their progress by the change in how how they had originally interpreted and/or responded to their "issue/event/emotion etc'.
  
  In hindsight clients can see they are able to respond differently as they move toward mind, brain, body and spiritual integration.
  

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  As I believe the mind uses the brain to create itself (per Dan Siegel, IPNB), and in order to know the mind I work with energy which all connects to my work with, and understanding of, compassion and spirituality, I am therefore a more spiritual being which makes me a better person. I use "mindsight' to the best of my ability and as “The human mind is a relational and embodied process that regulates the flow of energy and information” my belief in this definition of mind by Dr Dan Siegel enables me to monitor, measure, observe and modify my own mind as well as offer this understanding to any clients I work with, toward integration and hope, health, harmony and happiness.
  

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  What I like most about being a therapist is the opportunity to give back the knowledge and understanding that I have been given, which assists me to help clients' reach their goal/s. I am also excited about the monumental changes in counselling from the time I first moved away from psychology toward naturopathy/Health Science, and that now as a psychologist I am working from an Interpersonal Neurobiology perspective with my greater understanding of "The Conscious Self'. This understanding involves the inclusion of the embodied process, together with our spirituality, in working toward integration and to reach our goals. As I hold the "safe space' and containment in the counselling process, I continue to grow and be nourished as I work with my clients and see the capacity of the human being in their striving to find their meaning and connection in life.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  I can have an "unintegrated' start to my day and have a 'bad hair' day however when I see a smile - and there is always one there if you want to see one, then I remember to use my "mindsight' and smile on the inside.
  
  When I tune in to my compassion and presence before a client arrives, I can find a state of integration in a moment and remember to appreciate my changed "state of mind'.
  

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

  - Humanity's intolerance/ignorance, and
  
  - Environmental Pollution leading to
  
  - Global Warming and eventual
  
  - destruction of the planet
  
  HOWEVER I am optimistic that the 'community of the earth' will reverse ALL of these.
  

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

  The books entitled,
  
  "Parenting from the Inside Out " and
  "Mindsight' by Dr Dan Siegel.
  
  
  Inspirational Music by Patrick Bernhardt.