What is the difference between Psychotherapy and Counselling?
The main difference is that in Psychotherapy the client has the option to go deeper because the therapist has generally done a longer training.
For instance one may become a counsellor after 450 hours of training spread over three years. However when I graduated as a psychotherapist in 2001, I had completed more than 900 curriculum hours at Spectrum spread over seven years. In addition at that time, I had already completed another 900 training hours, largely at other institutions such as Chiron, The Gestalt Centre and IATE. Since that time I have continued my personal development and training, increasing the total still further. Also I have had twelve years of personal therapy with four different psychotherapists.
All of this allows me to be compassionate and open to a very wide range of human experience; and therefore to hold a space for clients to go deep, if that is what they want. You, as a client, are also welcome to stay more on the surface and have counselling with me; or to follow different options at different times.
What is the difference between Coaching and Counselling/Psychotherapy
There is a perception that Coaching is where successful people go to become more successful and Counselling & Psychotherapy is where people with problems go to sort themselves out. It makes people far more reluctant to admit to seeing a Psychotherapist or Counsellor, than to seeing a Coach. However there is a long heritage within Humanistic Psychotherapy (which I practice) for clients to have therapy not because they have something wrong with them, but because they want to reach their full potential (self-actualisation is the technical term).
The main difference is that in Coaching there is always a goal. In Counselling and Psychotherapy the client may be less clear of their goals, or find them difficult to articulate. I, as their therapist, will hold a goal for the client to reach their full potential - although at the outset what that could entail could be a mystery to us both.
In short therefore, with a highly skilled practitioner, Coaching can look very similar to Counselling & Psychotherapy. However many coaches will not be as sophisticated as a psychotherapist in understanding the dynamics of human relationships (both within the self and with others), or able to offer the same level of empathy and presence. This is why I offer supervision to coaches, so that coaches can improve their people skills, increase their work enjoyment and maximise client satisfaction and empowerment.
How does your sliding scale work?
It works largely on trust. I don't think means testing should be part of the therapeutic meeting. Rarely, I might ask you how you came to decide on the rate that you are paying if it seems that you are significantly over- or under-paying me.
Why do you offer a sliding scale rather than one fixed fee?
Other professionals with comparably long trainings (eg hospital consultants, lawyers, architects) charge high private fees. If I followed suit, only the rich could afford to use me. However I want to make my work affordable to as wide a range of people as possible. Corporate-paid clients and those paying towards the high end of the scale allow me to offer my work to those who can only pay towards the lower end of the scale.
Whatever the fee paid, few people regret the investment that they make in Counselling, Psychotherapy or Coaching. It pays far higher dividends in terms of long-term satisfaction and well-being, harmonious relationships and fulfillment than money spent on material goods such as a new sofa, an updated kitchen or the latest (and soon to be surpassed) electronic gadget.
