Lucy O'Doherty Flanagan Psychotherapy 2.56

Whether your GP refers you for therapy, or you decide for yourself that you'd like to seek professional help, it can be quite daunting trying to find and then decide on the most suitable Counsellor / Therapist for you. I hope the following brief information will help inform you about me and my approach to therapy.

I began my professional training in 2008 leading to a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Following this 4 year course of study, I spent 2 years building up my clinical practise hours in order to meet the criteria for professional accreditiation with the IACP (Irish Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) www.iacp.ie. I then pursued a Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Psychotherapy (CBT) at Trinity College Dublin and St. Patrick's University Hospital. The past 8 years have been quiet a journey for me both personally and professionally and I've been privileged to work with so many clients who have helped me to grow and develop as a Psychotherapist. In training we attended personal therapy, experiencing and learning about our own unfolding processes. I believe this is vital for any therapist as is the ongoing effort to continue to evolve and develop deeper self awareness. All this is key to sustained competence in the therapy room. I attend regular clinical supervision and make continuing professional development an integral part of my yearly calender.

My philosophy of psychotherapy has developed over the years and is underpinned by strong theoretical approaches and evidenced based treatments. My core training was in Humanistic and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, before going on to study Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy. The Humanistic approach is based on Carl Rogers Person-centred counselling, which aims to help individuals realise their innate ability to discover their own way forward and free themselves from self-imposed obstacles and constraints. Rogers stressed our actualising tendency; our instinctual drive to achieve and become.

Psychodynamic therapy aims to bring the unconscious into conscious awareness, so that the individual may gain insight and understanding about their behaviour, thoughts and feelings.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy embraces a number of approaches which all aim to teach us that our thoughts or cognitions have an influence on our emotions, which in turn determines our behaviour. This approach is underpinned by the Philosopher Epictetus famous words: "Men are disturbed not by things but by the views which they take of them". There are also many 'New Wave' therapies which have all grown out of the above approaches and therefore have similiar components.

I consider myself to be an Integrative Psychotherapist; meaning that I call on different models of therapy when treating an individual. This decision is of course dependant on the individual's needs, personality and presenting problems.

All in all, I believe the development of a sound and trusting therapeutic relationship is crucial for change work to happen, this takes time and client commitment is key to reaching goals for therapy.

The above post is only a brief outline of how I work and not meant to be a description of the various schools of therapy. My work has also been influenced by theorists in developmental psychology and neuro-science.

Going forward this Facebook page is about promoting my clinical practise, whilst helping to inform, inspire and explore all things which contribute to the human condition. A massive statement I know! We'll see :-)

If you'd like any more information or have any queries about my practise, please message me or email: Lucyodf@gmail.com, I'd be more than happy to help.