Are you in need of extra support in your life?

Has life changed or is it about to? Are you moving, are you moving internationally, are you changing jobs or careers, or is a relationship changing or coming to an end? All of these circumstances can cause difficult feelings to rise to the surface, making ordinary life more difficult.

Or are you dealing with a critical situation? Often we suffer in silence. There is nothing like the loss of employment, death, breakup, health crisis, or war (I’m not joking; I’ve lived through one) to prompt the need for urgent help. This is nothing to be ashamed of.

Or perhaps you’re starting to feel like you’re withering from a long period of existential malaise or melancholy associated with a lack of personal or spiritual fulfillment. The current circumstances in the world with the pandemic are creating great emotional shifts for millions of people. This is normal and  mental health needs are on the rise.

Whatever your situation is, noting and acknowledging the need for a little help is a positive step to take, and a brave one. Why?

Because a little known truth about the nature of humans is this: awareness is the first step towards change and resolution. Awareness increases a readiness to move forward.

The benefit of hiring a counsellor or coach is that working with another can speed up that process of change or healing, or simply make it easier.

Here is how I can help: I can be your coach or your counsellor.

The starting point is having a safe, dedicated time and space where you can collect your thoughts with a trained professional who can listen with objectivity and help you clarify and work out what is happening and what your next steps might be.

We will begin with an intake session to determine your needs. 

The next step is to decide if you want or need a coach or counsellor. The process of coaching is shorter than counselling and goals driven, ultimately. Together, we determine the purpose of these sessions. My role is to provide support and specific expertise that you need as you need it.

Our work may be defined by specific goals (coaching) or more by issues and emotional confusion and pain (counselling). Either way, I can help you work through what is at the center of your difficulty, so that you are able to make positive changes that give you the control you want in your life.

Why talking helps…

Your mindset or perspective can be the problem…getting in the way of your ability to make important decisions or create the essential habits that help you make changes you want to make.

Or the set of circumstances you presently find yourself in may be causing or contributing to your difficulties. Circumstances can oppress us. It may be a situation at work or in your personal life that you need to disentangle yourself from, or learn to deal with in a new way.

Either way, if anything feels true to you as you read this, it is possible that something is rising up in you and you feel ready to explore and make decisions about what to do about the difficulties you’re facing. Decision making can be difficult. It can help to have someone else help you to work things out.

Coaching and counselling tackles the problem in three ways: we examine the dynamics and interaction between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors or your actions. How we feel and think about ourselves and the world are critical to the way we act and navigate the waves or the ups and downs of life. Looking at all three areas and their interactions can help you gain clarity and get unstuck or move through difficulty or depression.

The process of working with me…

I am an integrative and person-centred counsellor and coach. I utilize a variety of creative and therapeutic techniques to help you work through what you’re feeling and struggling with, what is causing this to happen, and what you can do next. Additionally, I run trainings and workshops for groups, and can provide this support to employers also.

What is at the center of our working relationship is the connection between you and I. That is first and foremost, and it is known that a trusting therapeutic presence or connection is a powerful ‘force’ in its own right. Good therapy and the process of change in a counselling/coaching relationship cannot happen without it.

Person-centered counselling and coaching ensures that you are the expert on your life. My role is to listen carefully, discern, and reflect back to you what I am hearing and seeing, and to employ techniques as needed. You determine the goals we work on. I provide the introspective safe space for you to be able to identify and work on them. We utilize the techniques that can best support and help you to make change.

The process is, of course, confidential and reflective. I am able to provide directive and non-directive support, but this must always be transparent and agreed upon in terms of my role (counsellor or coach), and always you will be the one to decide what is right for you in both our work together and in your life…because this is your life.

We work at a pace that is comfortable for you and find solutions that deliver (1) increased health, (2) inner peace and confidence, (3) improved relationships or comfort in social situations as well as (3) balance in your life.

Your confidentiality is assured.

My areas of interest and expertise are: 

• expatriate issues – ie. planning for change and cultural adjustment
• grief/loss
• financial and career crisis
• chronic pain and health difficulties
• relationship dilemmas
• identity issues
• excessive stress and anxiety
• post-traumatic stress
• suicidal feelings and ideation

Expatriate counselling

Expatriates often lack the professional support necessary to see themselves through issues that can crop up as a result of living in isolation or feeling unsettled in a place that is unfamiliar.

Living in a small community can make it difficult to find a safe space to open up about one’s private thoughts and feelings.

As a ‘third culture adult’ who has resided in several countries over 25 years, I understand. I have experienced these difficulties myself, and moved through the various challenges more than once that expatriate living can present.

You really do not have to be alone with your pain, regardless of where you reside.

My aim is to provide you with effective, affordable support to help you make the adjustments you need to, in order to feel good about who and where you are and where you are going in life.

I am an experienced counsellor, specialized in creative therapies and crisis and suicide prevention. 

I personally engage in ongoing training in creative arts, which by their nature are therapeutic.

I run a peer-support program for youth in the Middle East.

I have worked in youth and adult counselling and crisis intervention for over 30 years in these capacities, with a number of agencies and prominent organizations:

• youth and adult crisis counsellor through government social services
• university student counsellor and student help agency administrator
• distress and suicide-prevention listener and outreach deputy with Samaritans, UK
• career counsellor and director of special needs with the Canadian federal government
• long-time teacher of PSHE (personal, social, health education)
• leadership coordinator and trainer (multiple schools)
• personal life coach
• business coach for entrepreneurs
• executive coach (executives, politicians and people in sensitive positions)

My training:

• Counseling and psychotherapy studies with Athabasca University (Canada) – currently undertaking.
• Dramatherapy with University of Roehampton (UK).
• Mindful Self-Compassion with founders Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Chris Germer (Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, U of San Diego).
• Zen meditation with Iranian Zen master and psychotherapist Hamid Ebadi (Portugal).
• Samaritans Suicide Prevention and Distress Training – online, telephone and face-to-face listening services (UK).

I hold a Bachelor of Education in Drama and English and a Master of Business Management degree.

My post-graduate research in arts and cultural management has been focused on leadership, teams, systems thinking, and change management including the psychological and social factors of change.

How to reach me…

You can reach me via my Contact page on this site. I offer personal and professional performance coaching as well as business support at dunecoaching.com