Homa’s Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy gives you the freedom to be the therapist you dream of being. You will develop your own style and approach, grounded in solid theoretical and experiential training.
There isn’t just one way to be a therapist (I use the word therapist interchangeably with counsellor and psychotherapist in this post), we know that of course. There are many different modalities and approaches. But even within Homa’s Humanistic-Existential model, you will find your own unique way. You will discover that training at Homa is as much about practising the Art of Therapy, developing your own philosophy and approach, as it is about learning skills and methods.
I was re-reading The Existential Counselling Primer this week, a very useful little book by Mick Cooper, and I was reminded of the different ways in which we develop as therapists. I love that we can all be different and that there is no right way. The best therapist or therapy for one client is not necessarily the best therapist or therapy for every client.
“The therapist must strive to create a new therapy for each client.”
Irvin Yalom
At Homa we take this philosophy into our training. You could say that we create a new therapy training for each trainee. Not because we waiver from our core principles and theories, anymore than Yalom does as a therapist, but because we encourage each trainee to develop to their own values, philosophies and ways of working as therapists. Drawing on and expanding upon the theoretical frameworks we teach Homa trainees are encouraged to experiment and explore so that they discover the way of being with their clients that suits them best. This ensures that each trainee’s practice and approach reflects their unique character, perspective and understanding.
So here are some questions (based on the Dimensions of Therapy outlined in Cooper’s book) to ponder as you think about what kind of therapist you might become.
Knowing or un-knowing?
Will you be the kind of therapist who holds onto certain assumptions about life? Such as the belief that the clients’ problems are rooted in the fear of death (like Yalom )? Or, will you adopt a more phenomenological approach and aim to put to one side all your beliefs and biases, including existential ones, to meet your clients from a place of openness and curiosity?
Directive or non-directive?
Will you take charge of the therapeutic process, perhaps bringing your clients’ awareness to how they block or limit themselves or helping clients to label and differentiate between different emotions? Or, will you allow your client to take the lead, trusting in their innate drive towards self actualisation?
Explanatory or descriptive?
Will you provide insights into how your clients' histories might be showing up in their present life so that they have more choice to change behaviours or beliefs? Will you help your clients to identify underlying meanings so that they can live with greater purpose? Or, will you help them to unpack their experiences as they experience them, so that they develop an increased awareness of their own lived reality?
Pathologising or de-pathologising?
Will you understand your clients’ difficulties in terms of maladaptations and dysfunctional ways of being? Or, will you focus on the intelligibility and purposefulness of clients’ symptoms?
Technique based or non-technique based?
Will you orient your work around specific therapeutic methods? Or, will you engage in a relatively unstructured, informal dialogue?
Immediacy orientated or extra-therapeutically orientated?
Will you encourage your clients to explore their here-and-now relationship with you (the therapist)? Or, will you focus on your clients’ relationships outside of the therapy room?
Philosophically orientated or psychologically orientated?
Will you discuss the wider issues of life and its meaning with your clients? Or, will you focus on the supporting them with emotional, cognitive and behavioural processes?
Individualising or universalising?
Will you understand the clients’ difficulties in terms of their particular psychological processes? Or, in terms of more universal challenges for all human beings?
Subjective or inter-worldly?
Will you focus on the psychological process ‘inside’ the clients’ psyches? Or, on their relationship to their world?
As you read these nine dimensions you were probably thinking that it doesn't have to be either/or. And while it can be, as a Homa trained therapist you are very likely to blend some or all of these approaches in your work and this may look different for each therapist and with each client.
It’s so interesting to think about who we are as therapists, the experiences that play a part in shaping who we are as people and will undoubtedly inform our work. At Homa you are free and encouraged to develop a way of working that reflects all of who you are. We all continue to develop and evolve as therapists well beyond the four years of training, as we grow with years of experience - our own and our clients’. And it’s good to know that whatever our approach, there will be clients out there for whom we will be the perfect fit.
What kind of therapist do you dream of being?
If you would like to find out more about training at Homa, take the first step and come to an Introductory Workshop
Comments