Have you ever told your story? Are you confident and happy in your relationship with yourself and with others? We all go through our individual journey in life… I lend a supportive hand, and accompany you on your journey… in seemingly hopeless or challenging situations, in coming to terms with the past, in relationship conflicts, in parenting challenges, questions of identity, living in self-doubt, or if your sex-life is not what you had hoped it would be like. I work with elements of different psychological therapy approaches (integrative counselling) to accompany you on your path of personal development.
My varied life experience has resulted in a deep passion und understanding for hearts, stories and complexities. The accumulated knowledge from my education and search to understand human emotion and it’s close interplay with cognition and the world we live in, has enabled me to see the holistic person, and that each person can be understood and needs to be heard in their own individual way. Years of working with children and their parents, exposed me to their concerns and questions in areas like child-raising, learning and/or emotional difficulties and my navigation of this deepened after having my own child in 2012.
Although I primarily draw on Alfred Adler’s theory of Individual Psychology, I also integrate other approaches that I find useful, such as the Person Oriented theory of Carl Rogers. I have extensive training in psychological counselling, experience in parental coaching as well in psychological group therapy. I completed my psychology degree and teaching degree in South Africa, which set the stage for almost 20 years of professional experience with children (of all ages) and their parents. In Switzerland I worked in both international and local school contexts, simultaneously continuing my education in psychology and counselling. I have a big heart for children and their emotional and learning development, but I strongly believe their lives can be made a lot easier if we as adults get to know ourselves better.
My varied life experience has resulted in a deep passion for and understanding of the complexities of each individual. The accumulated knowledge from my education as well as my pursuit to understand human emotion and it’s close interplay with cognition within the world we live, has enabled me to see the person as a whole and to recognise that each person can be understood and needs to be heard in their own individual way. Years of working with children, and their parents, exposed me to concerns and questions in areas such as parenting, emotional and learning difficulties. My navigation of this deepened after having my own child in 2012. Even though I enjoy working with children and all parts of their development, I strongly believe their lives can be made so much easier, if adults get to know themselves better first. I find this holistic approach a very powerful tool in all spheres.
Take the time to find out who you are, how you became the way you are, how you see yourself and what is deeper inside of you. Some may speak of their soul, or their heart - a description of the self. Individuals realise more than ever, that we need to make time for the self and take care of our souls or hearts. However, many of us don’t even know who we really are.
Many symptoms of underlying unease may not surface until something happens, like a burn-out, or depression/postnatal depression sets in, or we’re faced with problems in a relationship, infertility issues, loss of a loved one, becoming a parent, parenting battles with our children, or moving to a new country and suddenly being faced with a lack of identity.
How do you stand in your social interactions with the other - do you have emotions hindering a happy life? Do you feel like you always fall back into the same relationship traps? Does your partner, someone at work, or your own child trigger emotional reactions? How have your life experiences with others influenced your view of others and your interaction with them?
The focus is not on a clinical diagnosis of mental health, but rather on a process, or a journey of finding out who you are, listening to your story, find out causes of negative emotions, where emotional coping strategies are not effective, and finding out new ways of looking at life and others, and most importantly yourself.