Susan Holliday

I am an experienced Psychotherapist with a Masters Degree (MA) in Psychosynthesis Psychotherapy.  I also hold a Certificate in 'Supervision with Soul' from Re.vision and work with counsellors and psychotherapist to support and develop their own client practice. My approach in both contexts is fundamentally relational. I believe that it is through authentic, warm and mindful relationship that deep change is constellated.  My core model is Psychosynthesis. In line with other depth psychologies Psychosynthesis holds that psychological disturbance and emotional distress often indicate historical wounding. This model however goes further in considering whether an individual's presenting 'emergency' may indicate that a more authentic and expansive self is seeking to 'emerge' (be born) in the lives of the individual.  Just as there is a 'lower' unconscious which holds the traces of our history, so too there is a 'higher' unconscious which enfolds our future potential - a bit like the oak within its acorn. Repression or denial of this potential can be as painful as connection to childhood wounding. So the 'crack' which brings us into therapy may also be a doorway to a kind of birth of self in which we become more authentically ourselves. It is critical to hold a kind of bi-focal vision to keep past and future alive in the present.In addition to Psychosynthesis I also draw on Jungian approaches to working with active imagination and on Somatic Awareness methods for bringing mindful attention to how we embody our suffering so that we can heal at an energetic level.Whilst I draw on a range of models to inform my practice as a supervisor, the foundation of my approach is attunement to the client through the experience of the therapist. My starting point is respect for the therapist's own distinct approach and emerging qualities, skills and insights.