Counselling and Psychological Therapy Services

PLAY THERAPY… Play therapy is designed to treat problems that are interfering with a child’s normal development and healthy functioning. Play provides a developmentally appropriate means of expression and communication for children that does not rely on under-developed verbal skills. It allows for the natural expression of their inner world, emotions, concerns, and wishes, through a symbolic and non-threatening modality that helps children to grow and heal at their own pace. The use of toys enables children to transfer anxieties, fears, fantasies, and guilt onto objects rather than people. In the process, children are safe from their own feelings and reactions because play enables children to distance themselves from disturbing events and experiences. Therapists recognize themes and patterns or ways of using the materials that are important to the child. Through the play process, the therapist helps the child to make meaning out of the play, which reflects his/her issues or difficulties.

SANDPLAY THERAPY… Sandplay Therapy is an experiential and creative psychotherapeutic approach for children, adolescents and adults that involves the creation of three dimensional images or worlds in the sandtray. Miniature figurines and natural items are arranged in categories on open shelves. These miniatures are used by clients and function as symbolic objects concretized in the sand during the creation of personalized sand worlds. The sandplay process gives conscious form to clients’ inner states and unconscious processes. The process facilitates the resolution of inner tensions that reside within a deep source of ones ‘being’ and the process of individuation. Aspirations Inc. has an area devoted to Play and Sandplay Therapy.

HYPNOTHERAPY… Hypnotherapy is used to create unconscious change in the clients in the form of new responses, thoughts, attitudes, behaviors or feelings. Generally, it can help individuals to break down internal barriers of old patterns and create possibilities for change that are resistant to conscious change. It can be a powerful process of natural unfolding that paces itself with the clients natural hesitancies so there is no blunt or shock to the individual. A wonderful self-development tool. Hypnotherapy has also long been used in relation to childbirth, an approach known today as Hypno-birthing. It is used during a pregnancy to prepare a mother and her supportive others for the birthing process, reduce anxiety, discomfort and pain. Modern hypnotherapy is widely accepted for the treatment of anxiety, subclinical depression, certain habit disorders, to control irrational fears, as well as in the treatment of conditions such as insomnia, eating disorders and addition. Hypnosis can also enhance recovery (or preparation for) from physical conditions such as after surgical procedures, and gastro-intestinal problems (i.e., IBS).

SENSORIMOTOR PSYCHOTHERAPY TREATMENT FOR TRAUMA… Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a body centered form of therapy. It is particularly helpful in working with the effects of trauma and abuse, emotional pain, and limiting belief systems. When we experience trauma and cannot fight or flee to protect ourselves, we are left with the instinct to freeze. Years later we have thoughts and feelings that are frozen in time. Part of us believes that the best way to be safe is to shut down. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy utilizes the nervous system to move out of frozen or hyper states and into a more flexible and relaxed way of being.

MINDFULNESS… Mindfulness refers to a state of being fully present in the moment, accepting each moment as it arises. It is a practice and a way of approaching life that encompasses certain attitudes such as acceptance, patience, non-judgement, and compassion for others and for ourselves. Mindfulness practice in psychology was inherited from the Buddhist tradition but brought forth under the umbrella of positive psychology. Mindfulness exercises are used as a powerful means of reducing detrimental emotional, neuro-cognitive, and physiological effects of stress, which enhances emotional and physical health and potentially alleviates a variety of mental and physical conditions.

CBT… Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is an approach that addresses dysfunctional emotions, maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes and contents through a number of goal-oriented, explicit systematic procedures. Therapy involves the identification of problematic thought patterns and related emotional reactions. It uses concrete strategies to find solutions that work towards changing thoughts, behavior and emotional responses to overcome the identified difficulties. This approach works well to offer new insights and perspectives to client issues.