Ms Lisa Moore

A conversation with Lisa Moore

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

  I am drawn to counselling by a genuine desire to make a positive impact on people's lives. I care deeply about the well-being of others and find immense satisfaction in providing support during difficult times. For me personally, I derive joy from seeing clients grow, heal, and overcome obstacles, knowing that I played a part in their journey towards greater well-being. At the same time, the field of counselling is dynamic and ever-evolving, offering unparalleled opportunities for continuous learning and personal growth. Working closely with clients from various backgrounds and with a wide range of issues allows me to continually learn about myself and others. Every interaction with a client becomes an opportunity for reflection and growth, fostering a deeper understanding of myself and the world around me.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  I am a humanistic therapist at heart. There are many therapies and theories I follow in the humanistic tradition. For example, Alfred Adler's ideas of self-acceptance and separation of tasks can provide a profoundly liberating way of thinking. Like Adler, I believe we are less affected by the events that happen in our lives (which we cannot often control) and more by how we think about those events. For example, what do we dwell on? Do we believe we can survive rough patches and even learn from them? Taoism and Buddhism have both enriched my perspective on life. Taoism invites us to accept life as it is and working with whatever comes our way, and Buddhism provides the guidance for doing so.

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

  I am interested in our individual and in our collective stories and the influences in how we interpret them, rewrite them and honour them. This includes the impact of our emotional lives and our coping strategies on our stories, the influences of our relationships with others and with ourselves on our identity and on our personal growth, and our search for meaning and purpose and our acceptance of change.

• What methods do you use?

  I am an integrative therapist. My approach is part of a progressive movement that assimilates and integrates key insights from major approaches (e.g. humanistic and cognitive therapies) into a more coherent whole. This flexible approach enables the counselling experience to be tailored to the individual needs and style of each client.
  
  Therapies and techniques I may integrate (and which I am experienced with and trained in) include evidence-based treatment orientations: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Existential Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Narrative Therapy, Schema Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and Strength-Based Therapy. Keywords common to all these therapies are the goals of acceptance and growth, responsibility, and freedom from struggle.

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

  Progress in counselling is highly individualised and can vary greatly from one client to another. Each person has unique goals, challenges and experiences, so what constitutes progress will differ from one individual to the next. For some clients, progress may involve achieving specific goals or milestones they've set for themselves, while for others, it may be more about the internal shifts in mindset, emotions, or relationships they experience over time.
  
  Moreover, clients may have different preferences in terms of how they measure progress. Some may focus on tangible outcomes, such as symptom reduction or behaviour change, while others may prioritise subjective experiences, such as increased self-awareness or emotional growth.
  
  As a counsellor, I believe my role is to honour each client's individual journey and collaborate with them to define what progress looks like for them personally. By tailoring interventions and goals to meet the unique needs and preferences of each client, I can better support my clients in achieving meaningful and sustainable change.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  Firstly, I am immensely grateful and fortunate to live in a world where therapy has been an option for me. It is a privilege it is to have access to such valuable support and guidance, especially considering that many people in our world do not have this option available to them. It is with a heart full of gratitude that I respond to this question, knowing that therapy has played a profound role in my journey of healing and personal growth. It has been an avenue that I have turned to whenever I have been faced with a difficult decision and need some help to untangle my doubts and confusion. It has been a place of safety and stabiltiy for those times when I have become stuck, or stubborn and unable to see past limiting beliefs and self-defeating obstacles. Therapy is not a destination but a way of moving forward. It is process that opens so many doors of understanding, recognition and self-awareness. Therapy has, step-by-step, moved me towards a version of myself that is always uncovering and transforming hidden, subconscious layers of peace and contentment. It is a journey I wish for us all.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  The chance to grow.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  I am growing in my silvers so it is not so much as a “bad hair” day as an exciting adventure to see what finally emerges (most of the time).

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

  This is a difficult question to answer. The world is a huge planet that has existed for billions of years. It is meant to be shared but in my humble option, we humans haven’t always done a very good job at that. We put advancement and our needs above the needs of all others, including, oftentimes, other humans. I wish we would slow down and start to listen more to each other and start to put boundaries like nation, gender and religion aside and start to work together, as humans.

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

  Anything written by Eckhart Tolle, Dalai Lama, Don Miguel Ruiz, Paulo Coelho, Bonnie Garmus, Stephanie Dowrick, Leonard Cohen, John Boyne, Fredrik Backman, Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, Benjamin Hoff and Winnie-the-Pooh inspire me.