29th Jun 2019 published by: Jacqui
At JMA Psychology Canberra, my counselling practice, we believe in "the three C's": Curiosity, Connection and Compassion. Let me explain what I mean...
Curiosity, as we mean it here, is not just idle interest, a passing whim to hear something new. It means a hunger to know, to understand with an open mind, with full acceptance. To be truly interested and willing to learn from each and every person we see, to understand their experiences, their pain, their trauma, their anxiety, their depression, their battles with addiction, their failed or failing relationships, their mistakes, their fears, their hopes, and their dreams for the future. Because it is through understanding that we set the stage for insight, change, recovery, healing, relationship repair, and hope.
Our next guiding principle is Connection. When any person seeks the advice or ‘counsel’ of another, especially when we’re talking about feelings and thoughts, it sets the stage for a very special type of relationship. A relationship based on trust in which you can feel absolutely accepted and never criticized. A relationship in which you always feel treated with kindness, understanding and emotional generosity combined with honesty and respect. But what makes such a counselling relationship extra special is that this level of connection is guaranteed, it does not rely on you proving that you ‘deserve’ such treatment. Our philosophy is that you deserve it just by coming to see us in the first place.
And so to our third commitment, Compassion. The word comes from two much older words which translate as “to suffer with”, and that is what we believe is absolutely vital to the helping professions. We all know how it feels to be treated like a diagnosis, like an object that is broken and needs fixing, or even to feel like we’ve been put in the ‘too hard’ basket and given up on. There can be no benefit from such an experience, quite the opposite. So you can be assured that you will not feel like you are dealing with an icy, detached ‘expert’ in this practice – you will meet skilled, experienced counsellors who are also warm, very human and are willing to open their hearts to you, your story and your struggles.
So if our combination of curiosity, connection and compassion sounds like something that you might find worthwhile, please explore this website and perhaps read about how we can help you to learn more.
