New Page Integrated Counselling Framework

Core Orientation: 

A holistic balance of body, heart, mind, and spirit that focuses on identity, meaning making, and the inter-dependent relationships with self, loved ones, and community. Therapeutic frameworks I draw from include Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, DBT, CBT, NeuroAffective Relational Model, Indigenous Wellness, Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, and Internal Family Systems.

View of the Problem:

Distress and suffering results from disconnection from self, others, and community. Disconnection can be the result of organic loss such as death, relocation, or divorce however when it is experienced as a recurring pattern (PTSD, C-PTSD, Complex Grief, or Intergenerational Trauma) persistent disconnection can be understood as a protective adaptation, even when the result is suffering and repeated patterns of disconnection--often the opposite of desired outcomes.  Challenges and relational conflict with self or others make sense when understood contextually. Every emotion, behaviour, or somatic response makes sense when narratives are untangled and rewoven.

Primary Goal: 

Enhanced sense of agency and wellbeing; transformation of identity and frames of reference in relational contexts (self & others); increased or enhanced self-awareness, and clarity around beliefs, values, needs, and goals.

Outcomes: 

Authentic, meaningful connections with self and others that produce enhanced wellbeing, meaning, and thriving. This includes a growing sense of agency, an internal state of hopefulness and peace, and acceptance of self and others. This occurs as new frames of reference for meaning making and identity  are developed, and experiential shifts from survival patterns into a thriving, expansive state of being that is embodied  (ie increased window of tolerance for distress, experiencing full range of emotion). Old narratives and experiences are integrated, and symptoms of suffering are reduced. Enhanced somatic awareness, increased capacity for attunement with self and others,  and increased distress tolerance.

Role of Awareness / Mindfulness:

Embodied knowing (somatic awareness), access to the wise, authentic self, and compassionate, curious witnessing of protective parts, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. Balanced awareness of body, heart, mind, and spirit.

View of Emotions:

Emotions are information and indicators of underlying thoughts, needs, desires, and distress tolerance. Many of these are unconscious.

Identity/Self Concept:

Identity is the interplay between self-concept and external relationships; there is a expression-validation feedback loop that reinforces or challenges self-concepts (mirroring). An integrated identity emphasizes state-of-being characteristics rather than roles and external validation, and at the same time acknowledges identity is situated in relationship (I-thou or Ubuntu “I am because We are").

Typical Interventions: 

Compassionate witnessing of self (IFS parts work, narratives--thoughts & beliefs, somatic attunement); Mindfulness (embodied knowing, meditation, land based healing, somatic experiencing, breathwork); Play (art, creative expression, community events, hobby expoloration); experiential learning (experiements, exposure); goal identification, values clarification and identification as guides; psychoeducation; narrative reframing and meaning making, identification of beliefs and narratives that govern behavioural patterns; narrative processing.

Relationship Role:

1-1 with counsellor is collaborative, structured around clear therapeutic goal(s); provides relational attunement, modeling, mirroring, co-regulation, pacing, and compassionate witnessing. 

Group: compassionate witnessing, peer mentoring/support, mirroring, enhanced access to community resources.

Behaviour Change Mechanism:

Experiential transformation of identity in relational contexts (self & others) through values driven action, experiments, exposure, skill practice and acquisition, resolution of thoughts and emotions driving behaviour; experiential shift from survival patterns into thriving and expansive state of being that reinforces new behavioural and relational patterns; integration of old narratives and resolution of or reduction in symptoms/suffering.