Choose the help that suits you.
In the sessions I run, I swear. A lot. You can too. It often helps us to relax and ‘tell it like it is’. What we both want is the truth. What we don’t want is the prettied up version, where we try to find the hollow, polite, academic words. I can supply them, but they don’t have the same emotional ring as ‘bullshit’ or whatever. (If you don’t want the swearing, that’s ok too.)
“Fucked up” will do to start with. How? Not sleeping, angry, anxious. Okay. The person I hope to meet is someone who is curious about how they feel, and searching for answers. The person I must meet is the one who has had enough, they are jack of all this anxiety or depression shit, the things they do that they themselves don’t understand. So let’s try to fix it.
Occasionally, a client will come who’s not sure if they should be there. They’ve been having this negotiation with themselves, and losing. “Am I ok?” Can’t decide. On average it takes people 6 years to decide – by then the problem is either worse or deeply habituated. Anyway, if you’re in this inbetween space, not sure, ring me, or just come. You’ll know for sure after one session.
The first conversation I have with someone (usually) is a 10-minute phone call to see if we can connect. Does my problem-solving approach resonate? (It doesn’t suit everyone). Have you seen a psych before, what was that like, what did you learn? Sometimes clients are none the wiser, and even more confused, after they’ve received help. Sometimes they’ve been traumatised all over again. I’m finding this initial chat alone can be like light through the clouds for people. Hope at last.
Depending on the first session’s assessment in relation to anxiety and depression, I’ll typically see someone for 5- 6 sessions.
So, where’s your pain?
- You can’t relax – and this means you can’t sleep, can’t stop thinking, can’t direct your thoughts where you want them to go. Decisions have become hard work, and maybe impossible. But with help, you can turn this around.
- Anger – the wrong kind. You haven’t managed the fine line between appropriate protective anger, and destructive anger.
- You feel unaccountably tired – why? You don’t know. Like wading through mud – every task, even the easy ones – harder than they should be. There is nothing visibly wrong – except there obviously is. It doesn’t have to stay this way.
- You’ve noticed you’re drinking more than usual – you revert to a beer or a wine, or a scotch more often than before. Maybe when you get home from work, then when you eat dinner, and then as a nightcap. Every now and then, a blinder. If you counted them, that might amount to 5-6 drinks – every night. It didn’t use to be like that, and now th
ere is a belly, and now stairs are harder, and there is a voice that keeps telling you, that you deserve this. You don’t. Listen to the other voice that wants you back to your best. - You’ve made a mistake that haunts you. It was stupid, or careless, or just an accident. But the memories won’t leave you alone – not just the dreams, or nightmares, but the sounds, and the sensations on your skin. You can recover.
- You’ve been keeping secrets – showing others the face they expect to see, and hiding the truth of how you feel. What a relief it would be, not to have to do that anymore.
If you feel 50/50 – just ok – don’t accept it. You matter. You are worth it. You have never deserved this, and that belief that says you do, is a fucking lie.
Our first step is to connect. When you feel safe, in the hands of a capable helper, you can say what perhaps you have been unable to say to anyone else. Its common enough that people will say to me – “I’ve never told anyone this, but….” The most personal issues we have can also be the most universal. You are not as alone as you think you are. Its not just you.
The path we take is open-ended; we don’t know where to go until we learn where you’ve been and what you want. The hidden problems, felt but invisible, can seem elusive and surely not worth worrying about. Sometimes we don’t know why we feel the way we feel – men especially. “I run my personal checklist – physical health, check; finances, check; family, check; friends, check. THERE’S NOTHING WRONG!! Why do I feel like shit?” It can feel humiliating.
To look at you, there may seem nothing wrong. But you know within yourself, a shadow has been growing – life getting harder. If you suffered from the flu this long, you would have seen a doctor. Treat mental health like you do physical health.
How it works
Appointments run for around 90 minutes. Appointments are held at Seven Hills Chiropractic and Allied Health, 188 Prospect Highway (cnr Hope St), Seven Hills. (02) 9838 7773. If the location is not convenient for you, online (skype or zoom) works just as well.
The Mental Health Plan via Medicare’s Better Access program, with a referral from a GP / doctor, offers you up to 10 sessions for face to face meetings. You have access to $89.65 Government funding with every appointment, and perhaps more through your private health insurance.
Who am I, and why do I care?
After a career in Banking, I have consulted independently to multi-national and small business across Asia Pacific since 2000.
I registered as a psychologist in 2003, and invested more and more into understanding what I bring to the world, and how to make the world a better place.
You can also find me in the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi). 
I have had my fair share of successes in sport and business, and have also had to face up to failures, grief and to heal some scars. I have also invested in the fields of anxiety and depression, as a facilitator for Beyond Blue. All of this includes opening myself up (practising what I preach), to accept slowing down, re-framing my personal and family history, and taking responsibility for my own story. I have learnt to re-tell it, including my own experience of dealing with anxiety, grief and anger.
In this regard, I’m here for you. You can do this. Call (02) 9838 7773 to make an appointment.