Mano Suttner
Psychotherapist, Counsellor
Psych Counselling Sydney
Brighton Le Sands, Sydney NSW 2022
In Person + Online Therapy
Philosophy & Vision
I sit with you and listen - deeply listen - to whatever has brought you to counselling. Many people have never had the experience of being really heard, and of being given the space to pour out their heart. In the absence of expectation or judgement, they often experience the after effects of this unburdening as a lightening and easing of the heaviness they carry.
I have a Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Background
Besides my private practice, I also work as a Recovery Case Manager, supporting people diagnosed with a severe mental health illness to live in the community. In the past I worked as a Mental Health Professional at Beyond Blue.
I was involved for a decade with the More To Life programme. I did a lot of volunteer counselling in the framework of this organisation, and also participated in the programmes ongoing support groups for several years.
I bring all of my life experience to bear in our counselling sessions, including drawing from the various roles I have played as son, brother, husband, father, student and mentor.
Services
I seek - over time and via multiple conversations - to raise awareness of your strengths and assets, as well as of long-standing habits and false beliefs that may be getting between you and a more fulfilling life. During this journey together, some clients catch glimpses of the opportunities hidden in crises and difficulties.
I see the long-term goal of therapy as helping clients generate an ongoing experience of gratitude, acceptance and even contentment, no matter what their circumstances, and no matter what inevitable losses, tragedies and traumas they have had to deal with.
I have a particular interest in, and aptitude for, working with gifted adults, adolescents and children.
Quality Provision
I am eligible for Level 3 membership of the Australian Counselling Association, having had more than 750 hours of face to face client contact. As a past member of PACFA I was required to do ongoing professional development. In my role as a Recovery Case Manager, where I steady people who have returned to independent living post hospitalisation, I have regular supervision with a clinical neuropsychologist .
Areas of Special Interest
Accreditations
- Masters in Counselling and Applied Psychotherapy - 2014 - Jansen Newman Institute
Modalities
Buddhist Psychotherapy - CBT - Interpersonal - Meditation - Mindfulness - Solution Oriented - Somatic Psychotherapy
Therapy Approach
I work primarily with the immediacy of the relationship - what happens between me and you from moment to moment. Secondary to this living process I work with you to notice, write down and question your thoughts. I was trained in this approach by the More To Life community, and have also been influenced by the work of Byron Katie. Other influences are my years of meditation and mindfulness practice, and body-mind movement systems such as chi gong. For those clients who are drawn to it, we explore post personal psychology, the notion that ultimate freedom is never "of the person but from the person."
A conversation with Mano Suttner
-
Often our conscious - or unconscious - intentions do manifest, and one of my life intentions has been to reduce suffering and to be part of creating abundance.
-
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Rational Emotive Contextual Behavioural Therapy (REBCT), Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Somatic Psychotherapy, Gestalt, Motivational Interviewing.
Advaita - Non Dualism. The More To Life Programme (www.moretolife.org). Byron Katie. Gangaji. Eckhart Tolle. Krishnamurti. Yoga and Somatic psychotherapy. The Talmudic Sage Hillel. Permaculture. Narrative Therapy. Mindfulness. Laughing meditation. Poetry - words can conceal but also act as bridges. Words can harm and words can heal. -
Balance. Body-mind connection. Abundance consciousness. Creativity. Parenting and reparenting. Developing self compassion. Connection, bliss and presence as the antidotes to addiction. Going beyond the idea of being a person.
-
The method of no method. The power of “I don't knowâ€. Genuine listening and hearing. Asking generative questions and using motivational interviewing to facilitate change.. Relationship - but that cannot be reduced to a 'method'. Honouring the client and what happens between us from moment to moment. For me therapy is a sacred space - and by sacred I mean one that has been set aside as special, and that is fresh and alive.
-
Certain beliefs are associated with feelings of wellbeing, other beliefs are associated with experiences of suffering, of contraction and heaviness. Some of the work we may do is examining the beliefs the client has, and seeing if these beliefs are true or false.
Although in colloquial speech feeling and belief are used interchangeably, in therapy it is very useful to distinguish between them. "Progress is being made" is not a feeling, as such, it is a belief. Feelings just are what they are, present or absent, but beliefs can be questioned.
When a client writes or phones to make the first appointment they may begin telling themself they are making progress. When they believe the thought "I am making progress" there are likely to be accompanying sensations in the body - perhaps a losening, or expansion, or lightening. -
It has not made me a better person. It has helped me accept myself as I am, and others as they are, in any given moment, and to cast aside the veil of judgement. Rather than help me feel better, it has helped me become better at feeling - a more useful and achievable goal!
-
Laughing and crying with clients. Earning their confidence. The privilege of having people's vulnerabilities entrusted with you. Seeing clients shift. Modelling constancy, reliability, respect and sensitivity. Seeing the gifts that clients already have and then watching as the client begins to see them too.
-
Yes. Often.
-
Self avoidance. Trying to control, sedate or numb our feelings. The projection of these disowned feelings - our shadow self - onto some “otherâ€, blaming them instead of taking radical responsibility for our own emotional wellbeing.
-
There are so many, whew....
Books - “I Am That†by Nisargadatta Maharaj. The writing of Raymond Carver, David Sedaris and The Psalms of King David. "Who Would You Be Without Your Story" by Byron Katie. "Silence Speaks" by Eckhart Tolle. Principle Ethics, a chapter in the Talmud.
Film - Broken Wings (director Nir Bergman); Happiness (director Todd Solondz); American Beauty (Sam Mendes), Korczak (directed by Andrzej Wajda).
Devotional music ala Krishna Das, Michael Shapiro, Snatam Kaur, Shlomo Carlebach and many more.