Services for the public

Supportive conversations
Consultation for parents
Personal development groups
Individual psychotherapy
Couple therapy
Family therapy
Group therapy


Supportive conversations

There are times in our lives when all we need is to be listened to by a sympathetic listener, offered a different view and supported in what we may already be doing.

Such times are when we enter a different stage in our family life or career, lose somebody or something important for us or have to make a difficult decision.

Depending on your needs, supportive conversations may take a one-time consultation or a series of meetings.


Consultation for parents

We offer consultation about various difficulties connected with child raising, including:

  • fearfulness
  • tics
  • bed-wetting
  • recurrent abdominal pain with no obvious organic cause
  • learning difficulties
  • difficult behaviour at home or in the class
  • performance anxiety
  • bullying
  • school refusal
  • eating problems
  • problems associated with adoption
  • hyperactivity
  • excessive use of the internet or TV-watching
  • tough adolescents

Personal development groups

Groups provide excellent opportunities for learning from other people’s experiences and from the interactions within the group. Our personal development groups are designed for those who wish to learn more about themselves, develop new life skills and enhance their relationships.

The steps of the group process include the following:

  • commitments
  • communication
  • learning to listen and empathize
  • learning assertion
  • recognizing and resisting manipulation
  • dealing with shame and guilt
  • identifying social masks
  • mourning personal losses
  • developing a personal mission statement
  • forgiving and reconciliation
  • negotiating expectations
  • decision making
  • learning to love
  • discovering joy
  • planning and time management
  • learning to say good-bye

Individual psychotherapy

The usual duration of a therapy session is 50-60 minutes. The overall number of appointments, as well as the interval between sessions varies depending on your needs and circumstances. In some situations a single-session consultation is sufficient, while more complex problems may require participation in a series of sessions. The expected length of therapy is one of the questions you need to discuss with your therapist in the first session.

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Couple therapy

When problems emerge in the couple, a meeting or a series of meetings with the participation of both members of a couple can be useful. Problems experienced by couples include dissatisfaction with the couple relationship, communication problems, sexual difficulties, jealousy, infidelity and violence. Children’s difficult behaviour may also be a sign of tensions in the parents’ relationship.

Consultation with a therapist may also help when divorce is imminent or has just taken place. Conversation in a safe environment helps to explore the consequences of divorce, work through the losses, minimize the risks for children and negotiate a plan for cooperative parenting.

Couple therapy is an effective therapeutic tool when one member of the couple is struggling with a physical illness or a mental health problem like depression or psychosis. In this case the support of the healthy spouse is an invaluable resource in coping with the effects of illness.

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Family therapy

Family therapy means that the whole family or more members of the family attend the therapy session. Family members are able to voice their own views as well as hear each other’s ideas. This way they gain a better understanding of the problems they experience. Understanding how family members may inadvertently contribute to maintaining the problem is often an important step toward finding the solution.

Families almost always possess the resources needed for the resolution of their problems. Family therapy facilitates the exploration, discovery and mobilization of these resources.

In most cases a lasting result requires participation in more than one therapy session. The participation of all family members may not be absolutely necessary, however experience has shown that the best results are obtained through the concerted efforts of all those who play an important role in the solution of the problem.

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Group therapy

Groups provide excellent possibilities for learning from each other’s experience and from interactions within the group.

Our group programme called NEST (New Experience for Survivors of Trauma) specifically addresses psychological difficulties associated with traumatic experiences and important personal losses, including:

  • disrupted sleep patterns
  • feelings of shame or guilt
  • poor or unrealistic self-image
  • depression
  • anxiety
  • nightmares
  • self-harm
  • panic
  • preoccupation with death
  • fears about the future
  • distrust
  • indecision
  • sexual dysfunction
  • psychosomatic complaints
  • difficulty parenting
  • a tendency to repeat the past
NEST aims to assist people in breaking free from the hold of the emotional and interpersonal conflicts generated by trauma and loss. Having dealt with these conflicts, participants are enabled to use their resources and creativity to address present and future life tasks.

Group members are invited to learn new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Most of this learning is experiential.

Though designed for adults, the programme also benefits children, through the changes occurring in their parents’ behaviour.

The group process includes:

  • understanding traumatic events
  • dealing with fear and anger
  • learning assertion
  • resisting manipulation
  • dealing with guilt
  • removing falseness
  • mourning personal losses
  • forgiving oneself and others
  • negotiating expectations
  • making decisions
  • rediscovering joy

The group programme

  • is conducted by qualified group leaders, sometimes assisted by a trainee group leader and/or a facilitator
  • is provided in 30 sessions of 3 hours each, with 3 follow-up sessions.
  • takes 3 months (2 sessions/week) or 6 months (1 session/week)
  • requires a commitment to full participation and confidentiality.

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