Who am I?
My Mission
I am an extensively trained psychotherapist who is passionately driven by a quest to help people find the kind of future or transformation that is eluding them. My training is ongoing and in fact will never end, so vast is the domain of psychotherapy. I am specialized in two psychotherapeutic approaches: Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and Somatic Experiencing. The first, which puts hope up front and stresses the upward striving, is characterized by a persistent focus on the outcome that you want. This in turn implies an orientation to the present and to the future that you are aiming for. This said, your past is listened to with an empathic ear, and I am especially interested in any hints that it contains that point to your goals. The second approach involves an inward focus on the body to facilitate an upsurge of wisdom and creativity that is hiding within you. These assets are waiting for you to exploit. In addition, I am trained in psychoanalysis and occasionally use my clients’ dreams in order to tap into their creative unconscious and bring out their strengths (not their weaknesses!).
My target groups are, among others, adolescents and adults with a trauma, existential and identity issues, and troublesome relationships. I also do therapy with couples.
The Principles and Convictions that Underlie My Way of Working.
There is nothing wrong with you that cannot be fixed by what is right with you.
It’s all a question of focus, in particular optimistic focus and the promotion of hope through your detailed depictions of the kind of life you want to lead and the kind of person you want to become. Cresting on a wave of hope, one of my clients, after attaining a problematic goal, exclaimed excitedly, “I didn’t know it was impossible so I did it!”
A problem is a solution in the making.
That solution lies in you, not in me, and can be coaxed out of you by your innate creativity even if you are not aware that you have it. My task, in the fashion of a midwife, is to help you give birth to your solution-building skills through your creativity.
The issue is in the tissue.
An inward focus on the body, which is a cornerstone of somatic experiencing, can free up energy and knowledge nestling in your viscera, transported there by your nervous system. This energy manifests itself in the form of sensations, images, emotions and movements, all of which can have a healing effect, especially when integrated with the thoughts and ideas generated by the solution-focused approach. Somatic experiencing is a method of choice for the resolution of trauma. I have learned this method at the International Trauma-Healing Institute, based in Los Angeles.
I’m not here to waste your time and money.
I am with you to fulfill a mission, not to mind the clock. Consequently, if needed, sessions last longer than 60 minutes. In addition, I try to make therapy as brief as possible, but the duration is determined by you.
The power of creativity
Perhaps the most important principle of my psychotherapeutic approach stems from my fascination with creativity, in which the play of the imagination, both yours and mine, is critical. In fact, I have researched the mechanisms of creativity extensively in a doctoral program. This universal human attribute, which is not a fixed trait and can be developed throughout one’s life (even in old age), can have a transformative effect on our psychotherapeutic sessions. In particular, it can breathe life into sessions that seem to be stuck and going nowhere.
Academic Qualifications
BSc, MPsy, PhD program (in progress), Proficiency Certificates: Solution-Focused Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, Hypnotherapy
Memberships
Psychologist Commission (Belgium)
Flemish Association of Experts in Solution-Focused Cognitive and Systemic Therapy (Belgium)
Jeffrey Lubin – Psychotherapist – Antwerpen
