Bereavement & Loss
Until its disbandment I was a member of the National Association of Loss and Grief for 15 years, and I am an accredited counsellor and supervisor.
Very few people are untouched by grief and loss. Some have experiences of loss and/or trauma which can be beyond the individual's ability to cope. This may be because the loss is extreme and outside the normal range. Sometimes people have a special and unusual relationship with a person and this leaves them more vulnerable to this loss.
Prolonged grief disorder is a term used to describe a range of symptoms which continue for six months or more following a loss. These include: emotional pain, longing, anger, difficulty accepting the loss, and difficulties getting on with life. Some people increase risk-taking behaviours (alcohol, drugs, smoking), some develop physical symptoms, and some may feel suicidal. About 7% of people are severely impacted. Medications are generally not regarded as effective; CBT in combination with exposure therapy are regarded as central treatment tools.
It is at these times that it can be helpful to talk about the person and the relationship you had with a specially-trained practitioner.
Psychotherapy
I understand that making sense of our experiences is complex, and clients seek someone to work with to help unfold the themes which baffle and interfere with getting on with life. Clients can feel quite distressed when efforts to resolve their own problems aren't working. They may be experiencing a variety of symptoms including:
- depression
- anxiety
- difficulty resolving conflict
- a range of physical symptoms
- panic
- relationship problems
- rumination
- addictions
- stress
- adjustment to life transitions
- work themes
Psychotherapeutic interventions seek to increase the individual's understanding of their behaviours and broaden the range of options available to deal with their lives. Psychotherapy can offer the opportunity to understand the deeper, more unconscious blockages and patterns which impact on life. Therapy can be a profoundly rewarding and life-changing experience.
Trauma
Over the years I have had considerable experience working with clients who have experienced trauma. This may be sexual abuse, violence, accidents or war-related experiences. These events have the potential to impact both body and mind and to disrupt a person's capacity to have peace in their life. They also impact on the families of the traumatised person.
Over the past decade I have made a point of prioritising this important field by attending a range of training and professional development courses.
Couple Therapy
I started my career in a relationship-focused organisation, working for several years solely with couples. This area forms a substantial proportion of my current practice. I hold the view that it is worthwhile working to maintain and support the relationship that currently exists, as separation and divorce are rarely simple solutions. Grief and years of distress, plus the greater complexity experienced in stepfamilies, are encouragement to work at the relationship at hand. Where the relationship is not functional I am able to help couples navigate this journey to enable all parties to achieve wellbeing.
I have successfully worked with:
- Infidelity
- Financial problems
- Parenting & family matters
- Sexual difficulties
- Addictions
- Stepfamily themes
- Communication problems
Family Therapy & Parenting
My PhD was in the area of family functioning (successful and failed remarried families). I am a member of the Israel Family Therapy Association. Although I work with individual children and young people, the starting point — and often the only necessary work — is with the parents in enabling them to become more confident and successful in their role. Often parents feel powerless. The goal for each of us in raising children is to strike a balance between unconditional love and setting safe and developmentally appropriate boundaries. The sessions seek to increase our capacity to make sense of each child's feelings and experience of the world. My approach to parenting is both open-and-broad and practical-and-specific. I seek to gain an understanding of individual family values, history and goals, as well as giving parents alternate strategies. I have co-authored a book on Parenting (The Parenting Puzzle, Lewis and Lewis, ACER 1989).
Training — Supervision Course
Having run a 5-day training course for 30 years, these days I work internationally on Zoom. My current course is tailor-made to meet the specific needs of individuals and organisations. To avoid Zoom fatigue, the sessions are planned to be 2 hours on a weekly basis.
This course has been described by participants as inspiring and engaging. I draw together the theory and practice of supervision in an innovative manner. I have a Masters Degree specialising in staff supervision and have conducted over 500 days of training in supervision for professionals in the human services field, both within Victoria, Tasmania and N.S.W.
The Supervision Course is offered to professionals working within the field of human services and private practitioners. It is preferable for applicants to have or have had experience in supervision.
The course looks at issues related to the role of supervisor, history, purpose and functions of supervision. The aims are to develop an understanding of theory and practice of conducting professional supervision with an emphasis on opportunities to observe and practise skills. Too often I have had the experience of attending professional development sessions which have limited ongoing impact. My goal is to provide sufficient challenging opportunities within the course to stimulate and alter participants' practice as supervisors.
The course offers a combination of experiential and didactic methods.
Course content
- Models of supervision, including the clinical theories which underpin our style as supervisors
- The impact of a range of structures on the process of supervising — traditional, live, peer, and various group structures
- The educational function, with a focus on making an educational assessment
- Increasing knowledge of self as it impacts on the supervisor role within an organisation, in private consultations and with clients
- Processes and techniques of supervision, including parallel processes, unconscious processes, and family of origin
- Organisational/professional tensions
- Understanding leadership and management functions
Skills participants will acquire
- The capacity to effectively work alongside staff in a supportive and challenging manner
- The capacity to form an educational assessment
- The ability to develop work-related self-awareness in both the supervisee and supervisor, and in particular to understand how to more effectively use authority as line managers
- The capacity to accurately assess and work with the tensions inherent within the organisation and within the supervisory relationship
- Increased ability to focus, prioritise and evaluate performance
- An opportunity to observe and critique a live supervision session
Overall, participants are enabled to better integrate the multiple layers of meaning in the interface between client, worker, supervisor and organisation.