Mr Oliver Brooke

A conversation with Oliver Brooke

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

  My personal experience of being supported by a counselling professional. Experiencing anxiety and depression as a young person led me to access a counsellor. It was my first experience with an adult who listened to me without judgment. In later years the declining health of my mother to breast cancer led me back into therapy to understand my grief and loss. Both these experiences were supportive and transformational.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  Carl Rogers's Person-Centered (PC) philosophy has had the greatest influence on my professional style. I intentionally foster an attitude of positive regard, acceptance, non-judgment, empathy, and understanding towards the people I am lucky enough to journey with.
  
  Richard Schwartz's Internal Family Systems Theory has had the second greatest impact on my professional work. The IFS model fits well with Roger's philosophy and the idea of the Self in IFS has very similar qualities which Roger's described such as unconditional positive regard and compassion. IFS feels intuitive to me and I think its theory of the personality of multiplicity, systems thinking and the Self is the most accurate in Psychology.

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

  I am interested in people discovering that they are already whole. That inside them is a core essence that is indestructible and ever-present. I love the experience in therapy when someone taps into their true Self and instantly they perceive parts of themselves they hated a moment ago with deep compassion and understanding.
  
  We are told so often that we are responsible for our mental health and if we just did x, y or z we would feel ok. What I am most interested in is that IFS offers an alternative to this dogma. It offers a way of being with all of our parts and welcoming all of their thoughts feelings and behaviors with compassion and curiosity. Then from there, the healing happens.

• What methods do you use?

  I combine Internal Family Systems Therapy and Person-centered therapy. I am nearly an IFS purist as I have trained in a dozen models and I have found that IFS is by far the most effective and transformational. If you have skeptical parts I welcome them, I suggest going to youtube and watching an IFS session in action or directly experiencing one with me.

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

  The first time they access their Self and be with a part of them in a way they have never experienced before. It is transformational.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  I believe I can only take my clients as far as I have gone myself. I am of the view that as therapists we have to practice what we preach. So I regularly see my own IFS therapist. It has given me a way of being with my own internal system in a completely new way. I am no longer trying to tame or remove parts of myself that other parts of me don't like. I am now able to be with them with curiosity, compassion, and openness. And in the light of my awareness, they soften and take on new and valuable roles for me. I have become more connected to my internal system in all ways. More connected to others. And I feel a deep sense of purpose and value in my life. I have overcome most of my addictions and no longer feel crippled by anxiety. I have also released some burdens from my traumatised parts, this is an ongoing recovery journey for me.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  The opportunity to guide people into greater connection with themselves and others to give back what I have gained from therapy myself.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  Of course.

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

  Thinking that the parts of us which are anxious, angry, addicted, etc are the problem. They aren't the problem, the problem is the burdens they carry. If we fight against the parts of people we fight against people. We need to collectively release the burdens from our internal and external communities, not the people.

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

  No bad parts - Richard Schwartz