Saor Psychotherapy and Counselling

13/02/2024

A short discussion on the difference and merits of directive and non-directive child psychotherapy.

“therapists activity with respect to the degree of immersion and level of interpretation. Immersion relates to the degree to which the therapists enters and directs…” (Yasenik & Gardner, 2012).

07/07/2023

I will be delivering this one day workshop on July 27th if anyone is curious to deepen their knowledge of the adolescent developmental journey.

In this one day Summer Series introductory workshop, participants will study:

Brain development from birth to adolescence.
The impact of trauma on development and the developing brain.
The adolescent brain, the myth of raging hormones, the importance of the social brain in adolescence.
Ideas to provide a neuro-sequential therapeutic experience for adolescents.

For more information, visit www.iicp.ie

10/03/2023

For trainee and accredired therapists. I’ll be giving this CPD course again in July with IICP.

https://www.iicp.ie/2023-summer-series/ss-trauma-neuroscience-and-adolescence/

15/02/2023

…not just reliving trauma, trauma is ’remembered’ by the body. Once we get activated the responses to the original wound gets enlivened and it’s very difficult to use cognitive processes to remind ourselves that we are, in fact, safe. This is the same process that happens with transference, attachment issues etc. Before we can utilise cognition we must find ways of connecting with safety (regulation) in the body.

13/02/2023

Directive versus non-directive therapy for children.
There is an ongoing debate in the play therapy field over which approach is “better”, non-directive or directive. The most common consensus is that there is not one right way to proceed in therapeutic work with children. In this sense, many approaches with varying degrees of directive and non-directive emphasis can work well in the right context. In this short article we will look at the differences.

“therapists activity with respect to the degree of immersion and level of interpretation. Immersion relates to the degree to which the therapists enters and directs…” (Yasenik & Gardner, 2012).

17/01/2023

Not the world, not what’s outside of us, but what we hold inside traps us. We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds, but we can take responsibility for the mind with which we create our world.

Gabor Maté - in the realm of hungry ghosts

01/01/2023

Happy New Year from Saor Psychotherapy.

Beannacht

You are here:
On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets in to you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green,
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

by John O’Donohue

21/12/2022

23/09/2022

All in life is relational. Intrapersonal relationships are as important as interpersonal relationships.

23/09/2022

A short and useful polyvagal exercise.

The vagus nerve represents the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system, which oversees a vast array of crucial bodily functions, including control of mood, immune response, digestion, and heart rate. It establishes one of the connections between the brain and the gastrointestinal tract and sends information (cues of safety or cues of danger) about the state of the inner organs to the brain via afferent fibers.

To feel “safe”, the vagus nerve must be in a central vagal state. This short exercise promotes this state and will help you feel calm, grounded, curious and safe.

Have you heard of your vagus nerve? It's a nerve that connects your brain to your gut and is in charge of (1) making sure your organs are doing ok (2) turnin...

02/08/2022

Led by an experienced psychotherapist and teacher, John Searson MSc., this workshop will support participants in examining how trauma and neuroscience can inform clinical practice with adolescents who have experienced emotional or psychological trauma.

https://www.iicp.ie/2022-summer-series/ss-trauma-neuroscience-and-adolescence/