Karen Thomas

A conversation with Karen Thomas

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

  In the early 2000s I reached a cross-road and a knowing that something was missing in my personal life and in my career. So I began studying psychotherapy and took classes at the Cairnmillar Insitute in Melbourne, Australia. Immersed in the field of psychotherapy, there awakened in me a passion for understanding people's inner emotional and psychological worlds and helping them in their growth and healing.
  
  Prior to counselling, I worked for many years in education as an academic, teaching Indonesian language, and in business as business director of a tutoring business and as consultant in human resource managment in the early 2000s. A few years later I moved into the role of Research Fellow in Asian theatre studies. While I have loved assisting people in their learning in specific work related areas, I realised I was more and more drawn to helping people holistically, ie helping the whole person in the context of their life.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  Eugene Gendlin's Focusing approach that is underpinned by his philosophy of the implicit, opens up a whole new world perspective that lies beyond those recognised by the usual cognitive behavioural therapies. His Focusing-Oriented approach in psychotherapy invites us to experience ourselves deeply without relying on the intellect, to attend to the wisdom of the body and to the felt sense of what's inside us. He points us to felt-sensing, ie to sense into- and speak from our body - the body's sensations and its whole experiences that develop organically and in relationship with others. This approach invites us attune to the bodily felt meanings within us, that leads to an inner knowing of who we are deep down and what next step we can take that feels right. As we pause to stay with our moment-by-moment experiencing, we come to know not only our emotions but also what lies underneath them at a deep, often untouched level.

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

  Aspects of health: Relationship issues, family violence, working with intrusive childhood memories, anxiety, dreams and nightmares, self-awareness, inner conflict, the inner critic, intrapersonal and interpersonal difficulties, emotional regulation.
  
  Human journey: Adults of all ages and life-stages from 18 to 100+ years, relationship breakups, parenting issues, grief and loss, identity issues, cultural diversity, LGBTQI+, elder abuse.

• What methods do you use?

  An integrative, experiential approach with methods drawn from Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Attachment Theory, Existential Therapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Person-Centred Therapy, Trauma-Informed practices.

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

  Six weekly sessions are recommended to start with. At the sixth session, we will review the client's progress together. Depending on the progress made, the client may take a break and return to counselling at a later date, or they may wish to decrease the frequency and drop back to fortnightly, three-weekly or monthly sessions.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  Therapy, and in particular Focusing, has brought me greater self-awareness, reflectiveness, and curiosity about my inner world. My relationship with myself has changed deeply, which has greatly impacted who I am personally and who I am in my relationships with others. Being open to- and cultivating my own inner knowing allows me to be a better therapist with clients. As we embark on the therapy journey together, I help clients organically to find their sense of groundedness. From here comes an inner calm from which to carry life forward in a way that feels right for them.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  Facilitating and seeing clients break away from the shackles of their trauma and/or self-sabbotaging ways towards growing and transforming themselves into being the authentic person they long to be.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  They are very rare as my daily practice of Focusing keeps me both anchored within myself and alert to any subtle (or louder) stirrings inside me that need my attention or that need company. Focusing starts like a meditating process. However it soon diverges. At the point where a meditating person will let go of the present thought, emotion or situation that concerns them, as a focuser, I pause, turn towards it, remain open to it, and start to relate to it.

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

  Listening to each other in our individual relationships personally, in famlies, at work, at school, in organisations, government, within cultural groups, religion, sports, domestic politics, world politics.

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

  Films: Call Me By Your Name, Anatomy Of A Fall