I would like to share with you my view on my work, a service called therapy.
To begin with, therapy is this, a service. The therapist is at the service of people.
But.. what does it mean to be in service? It doesn’t mean telling the other person what they want to hear or doing things to push and feel pity for them.
Being at service means:
Active listening, being totally open to listen to what the other person has to say and at the same time being attentive to what they do not say or do not dare to say. Collect and repeat the words this person says and reflect their own ideas.
Presence, being present at all times. That is to say, to see, observe and connect with what the other person is living continuously. Letting the other person know that you are in the same mental, physical and emotional space. That you are not lost in your own thoughts and theories, but that you are walking the same path.
Empathy, welcoming and integrating the person as they are, their decisions, beliefs and ways of being. The basis is not judgment or comparison, of whether you are doing right or wrong. None of that happens here. Empathy provides the opportunity for the person doing therapy to be able, perhaps for the first time, to observe themselves and reflect on how they are living their own life. Where are their obstacles, fears, anxieties, traumas and blockages.
Safe space, where what happens in a session is not going to be public. Where they do not have to explain or justify themselves for the decisions and actions taken in their life.
Exploration of the issues the person brings to the session. Navigating, asking, observing, connecting the words, sensations, emotions and results that this person experiences in their day-to-day life.
Methodology as a life experience. At first the therapist may repeat or follow a type of method that they have learned from their teachers, schools or courses. But over time, develops his own methodologies and techniques that have given him the experience of working with different people.
In my own experience, it is not me who gives solutions, nor is it the other person who only lives the processes. What I have learned over the years is that only the person who comes to the sessions has the right answer for him or herself.
My work is to open up paths and accompany that person on his or her journey to find his or her true answer.
And while I deal with the issues that people bring to the consultation, I also learn and evolve, not only in my work, but also in my personal life.
As a therapist I do not have the answer to everything, I am not above the other because I have knowledge about human methods and processes and I do not “feel pity for the other”.
Just as a builder knows how to build houses, as a therapist I am an architect of human mental, emotional and physical structures. And there is no condescension, what there is is compassion and empowerment towards the other person.
We are all people and we all make up humanity. We all have our obstacles, fears and limits that we have to face. And for me, sharing all this is what is really important.
Sailing, surfing, walking, diving, training, experiencing life; the fact of being alive and being able to contemplate and transform ourselves in order to evolve.
Change not as an escape, change as strength.
This is my invitation to all people who want and need to redefine and transform aspects in their lives; to those who want to be conscious and mature; to those who want to overcome difficult emotional states; to those who want to share life by freeing themselves from unnecessary burdens; to those who are willing to evolve.