Anjali Singh-Mitter
Ba (hons), MSc, dip. CBH, NFB
Traditional psychology alone is currently still studied predominantly as a scientific discipline. It is a study that includes (but is not limited to) the study of the brain and its responses to certain emotions, human development, some hormonal understanding, and the role of these factors in what we deem to be our “mental health” (which, might I add, is a term you will see redefined in many ways through the therapy practised here). Whilst these factors are hugely important to our understanding of health and wellbeing, they cannot possibly, in my view, account for some of the complexities that arise in therapy. But the empirical is a fantastic roadmap, and part of the mental health picture, so this is part of what we use to piece together what can feel like the broken parts of our lives.
If we broaden what we are looking at, and address mental health as a fundamental part of being human, then we open up a dialogue that, I believe, is far more effective in helping you through the therapeutic journey. We will dip in and out of different therapeutic techniques along the way including hypnotherapy and mindfulness techniques, elements of cognitive and behavioural therapies, regression, and neurofeedback. I have long championed the need for multimodal approaches in therapy, quite simply because the issues we face are complex, and need to be seen and held through more than just one medium. Where things cannot be treated directly, I regularly refer to other forms of intervention as needed, and will regularly work alongside other professionals in order to provide the best and most cohesive support to clients in our care. Nothing is a “one size fits all”, and therapy is ultimately a unique dialogue with yourself. I’m here to help you find your voice for that dialogue.
Some informal thoughts
In the world in which we live, gone are the days of being enamoured with the scope of the human experience and the wonder of the universe. Instead, the preoccupation seems to be with the suffering of humanity, the suffering of the Earth, and the extent to which the suffering of each impacts the other. (I know, what a tone for a society supposedly concerned with “mental health”). Our lives are not as readily peppered with philosophical concepts, packaged in stories of humanity’s encounters with the divine, and yet we question why it is that we find ourselves in what has been dubbed a “crisis” of mental health.
I really hope we can shift this. If there’s one thing I would like people to take away with them is the idea that all is not “cheerless, dark, and deadly”, like sometimes we might believe. What I hope therapy here will help you achieve is an understanding that there is the scope to transcend the everyday drama that we live through.We have been telling stories of ourselves for generations, but we have lost interest in our own narratives. However, there is still the ability to create the story that you want to tell.