Are your services confidential?
Both therapists abide by stringent professional code of ethics, including issues related to confidentiality. This can be clarified further for you by your therapist.
What is the difference between Counselling and Psychotherapy?
While both terms are used to describe a range of ‘talk therapies’ there are differences between the two professional descriptions. The term Psychotherapy indicates that the practitioner has a specialised training and can engage in a deeper level of processing through their therapeutic approach. While a psychotherapist is qualified to provide counselling, a counsellor may or may not possess the necessary training and skills to provide psychotherapy.
What Services do you offer?
Our current services are Individual Counselling and Psychotherapy including Jungian Sandplay therapy and Sensori-Motor psychotherapy. Also Professional Supervision.
What issues do you work with?
The work begins with whatever is brought to the process by the client. This may be a specific issue or perhaps something less definable. The therapeutic process provides the skills, support and environment necessary to work with difficulties, access new perspectives and understanding and bring about relief and easing of symptoms or issues. In brief it promotes an increase in self awareness which is the most effective source for directing the changes needed to address symptoms, issues and concerns.
How long does it take?
This is decided by the client in consultation with their therapist. There is no prescriptive length of time and this varies according to individual needs.
What are your opening hours ?
Monday to Friday (including evenings) by appointment only.
What is your fee?
We are aware that fees can vary across practices and this may cause confusion and questions for those seeking therapy. Our fee is set at at €80-00 per sesssion (one hour of sixty minutes). To better understand possible differences in provision of counselling and psychotherapy and related fees we have outlined some information below. Both therapists in this practice meet and maintain the higher standards described.
Are all therapists the same?
No. As the professions of counselling and psychotherapy are not yet statutory regulated in Ireland there are currently no legal restrictions on who can practice or the standards of practice. To address this practitioners have established their own professional bodies offering membership to therapists who meet specific standards and qualifications. In addition, within counselling and psychotherapy practitioners have different approaches and levels of training. Some therapists hold additional trainings and depths of personal therapy that they have themselves engaged in which is regarded to increases the quality of therapeutic experience they can offer.
Who are the credible professional bodies?
Although not exclusive there are two main professional bodies upholding standards for counselling and psychotherapy in Ireland. Both of these are affilliated to European wide standards for practice. They are the Irish Council for Psychotherapy (ICP) and the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP).
The ICP is an umbrella organisation for a number of specialist associations for psychotherapy. The largest member of the ICP is the Irish Association for Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP), with which both practitioners at this practice hold membership. The crieria for membership of the Associations of the ICP are among the highest within the profession. The ICP is a member of the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP).
The IACP is the largest representative body for counselling and psychotherapy in Ireland. It offers membership to a broad base of practitioners. Membership criteria including training standards are considerably less stringent than those of the ICP. The IACP is a member of the European Association for Counselling (EAC).
Do all therapists have the same training?
No, training levels can vary quite considerably. Therapists who specialise in a specific area or approach generally do this in addition to their core training. While additional trainings and specialisations don’t necessarily equate to a better therapeutic outcome, they do offer potential for a better quality of engagement. All professional bodies require that members meet criteria for ongoing Continuing Professional Development.
Do therapists do their own therapy?
It is a requirement for professional membership that a therapist has engaged in a minimum number of hours of their own personal process. Currently the ICP requires therapists to heve completed a minimum of 250 hours of personal therapy. The IACP requires its members to complete a minimum of 50 hours. A practitioner’s depth of personal therapy is considered a measure of how fully available they can be to a client and support the client’s experience of feeling ‘met’. The word ‘available’ in this context, is a term used to describe the ability to focus on and support the experience of the client in a non assuming and undistracted way, due to deeper self awareness.
What is meant by the therapist’s approach?
There are different schools of thought in relation to the various approaches used in counselling and psychotherapy. A professional core training will most likely equip a therapist with a number of different therapeutic methods. Popular among these are person centred, psychodynamic, gestalt and cognitive-behavioural but there are others also. It is most likely that a therapist will draw from a number of such approaches but have a preference for one or two. In this Practice, while both therapists draw from the approaches of their core trainings, they have also developed further specialisations in Jungian psychotherapy and Jungian sandplay therapy (Maeve Dooley), Gestalt therapy and Sensorimotor therapy (Ruth Steenvoorden).