Counselling from the heart
So many people suffer from a myriad of health conditions today and the associated fears that go with our current modes of treatment. I observed this over many years working in the medical imaging sector of health care. I felt overwhelmed in my limited capacity to really help people in their lives. I also felt burdened by being in such close contact with other people’s suffering. Combined with my own personal experience of persistent anxiety and chronic pain, I tried many methods in my attempts at self-healing. After spending thousands of dollars in therapies on a long protracted journey, I discovered Dr Trish Sherwood. Trish is a local Boyanup counsellor and senior lecturer who introduced me to techniques that use the body to release emotional conditions. This process gives space for acknowledgement and healing of the whole being- the heart, spirit, body and mind. It just made complete sense to me that this model was far more inclusive than the one I had experienced personally and professionally as part of the clinical western medical model developed in recent times.
The body stores all of our memories and experiences from the past, including our ancestors’ lives. My father is a first generation migrant of Italian parents and the emotional upheaval of moving to a new country is encoded in my own DNA, passed on from my grandparents and their collective experiences of such upheaval in their lives. My maternal great grandfather was a stowaway on a ship that landed in Albany, all the way from Germany. He too, carried his own traumatic experiences which were evident in my grandmother and subsequent generations. It is a profound experience to allow the body time, space and trust to release and heal from these stored memories. Often we try to think and intervene via the mind which only complicates or blocks our capacity to heal. We have so many stories about who we should be or how we should present to the world. When we can separate ourselves from these inherited stories, we really begin the therapeutic healing journey.
