A Bit More About This Perth Psychologist – Showing Up Authentically
by Rebecca Dallard
In the interest of showing up authentically I thought I would try to write an honest profile in the first person:
I am a Perth Psychologist – 41 years old, married for over 14 years with 3 children under 10 years. I am deeply curious about why people do the things they do. I have been interested in this since I was 16 years old and had the great fortune to come across M Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled. It was by way of this book that I first learned about the paradox of change and the value of acceptance (letting go of the desperate need for things to be different than my reality).
My curiosity has largely been driven by a desire to find out why my mother was the way she was when I was growing up and to generally understand myself better. I won’t bore you with my life story, what I will share, is that I have had plenty of unpleasant (and at times joyful) life experiences. Trauma, grief, stress, bullying at work, lots of mental and emotional struggles, relationship strain, legal dramas, the need for restraining orders and more. Oh, hang on the good stuff too… the moments when I am truly “present” with my family, the rare feeling of achievement, the joy that comes with helping other people. More bad than good, well we are hard-wired to focus on the negative after all…. I am working on being more self-compassionate.
So, I work from a Gestalt framework mostly, I have found this approach the most impactful in my life and fulfilled/s the deep desire to understand my own “process”. By process I mean those things I do out of awareness that I learned to survive my childhood AND that now gets in the way. This approach is fundamentally about the present moment, developing awareness, and showing up authentically (or not) in response to the field (environment?). Well, that is my impression of Gestalt as it stands today. I love this approach because I get to show up as a real person rather than playing a “therapist role”, practicing being authentic with clients and role modelling this in a safe environment. I am constantly learning.
As a therapist, I am honest, open and I care. I am interested in and curious about how you are different from me and how similar.
I am NOT perfect and deeply flawed in many ways. That is part of the reason I chose this career path… a journey of self-improvement. I have a hard time managing the temptation to offer solutions, risking a break-down in communication. Most of the time I will ask your permission first. I can be disorganised with sometimes seeming structured and other times happy to go with the flow. My hope is that this looks a bit like adapting to the present moment and changing my approach to suit your needs. If I screw up in session (and I happen to notice) I will acknowledge it and explore it with you and apologise.
My philosophy is that despite “my crazy” and “your crazy” we can work together to find a way forward. “Crazy” in this instance being all the unhelpful things I repeatedly tell myself. My goal is to assist you develop self-awareness and self-support. Basically, this amounts to helping you learn what motivates and discourages you, what fixed ideas and harmful paradigms you adhere to and how to become curious about your Self.
Rebecca loves the idea of Peer-Based Counselling where the therapist has lived experience of your mental health challenge. There is a good chance that Rebecca has a level of personal insight into your difficulties as a result of her own journey. She has spent many years and considerable dollars learning how to deal with her own s&*t. She loves to share her knowledge with those who are interested.
If you can get some mental pain relief along the way in your therapeutic journey – so much the better.
By the way, if you are open to investing in the process and are motivated to work in and out of session, try new things and look deep inside I want to work with you. And if you are not those things I want to work with you too!
To arrange a confidential chat to see how I may be able to support you on your journey email me info@wellbeingtherapyspace.com.au.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.