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About Ifield Therapy

Jolanta Culpan

Psychotherapist, Counsellor, Hypnotherapist

MBT (Mentalisation-Based Treatment) Practitioner

Prior to psychotherapy, which I started practicing in 2015, I spent over 20 years in business taking on various roles: from managerial to secretarial and in between. During that time, I learnt to listen, give space, grow my self-awareness, tune in, understand and propose rather than impose. I witnessed and experienced the effects of stress, anxiety, body pain, lack of sleep. I learnt to deal with the pain of loss, helplessness, regret, rejection, shame, sense of emptiness and disappointment. And I also learnt that the only choice we don't have is not to choose. 

Over the years of practice I've become more certain that my personal journey is inseparable from my profession. As I like using the analogy of being a mirror for people coming to therapy with me, I regard my own integrity and personal growth equally important as learning about the newest or rediscovered techniques and approaches. I mean, it is my job that the mirror you see is clear - genuine, not judging, authentic.

​I truly believe that with a sense of peace and freed-up energy we can change our reality.

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My qualifications include:

Mentalisation-Based Treatment (MBT) Practitioner for working with borderline personality disorder

Certificate training course in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), specialist courses in working with personality disorders, effects of loss and trauma including shame, PTSD, depression, anxiety (various presentations), OCD, body dysmorphia and self-image, self-worth, self-harming, addictions, suicidal ideation, relationship and attachment issues.

My foundation training was in integrative psychotherapy and clinical hypnotherapy:

Advanced Professional Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counseling

Clinical Hypnotherapist, Rapid Transformational Therapy.

My Approaches to Concerns

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Addictions

Addiction is something we continue engaging with even when we know it's bad for us. In therapy, we understand that addictive behaviour has a purpose and a function, such as providing with a sense of relief, escape, pleasure, albeit short-lived and often followed by guilt, regret and shame. It may feel like a solution to your recurrent problems in the present, often because of some intense feelings that are difficult to bear.

We work to understand how addiction started, what keeps it running by examining your relationships to others and yourself. Feeling not good enough can be one of many negative and repetitive thoughts and beliefs. Once we start seeing what keeps you stuck, it becomes easier to find alternatives and ways out of it.

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Trauma

Trauma is not what was done to you or what you've suffered, but what happened inside of you because of that.

Relative to your environment  - what support you received, whether you had a voice, felt believed and heard, how you adapted and carried on - the impact and memories will shape your sense of self, how you relate to yourself, life and the world. 

In therapy, we work to recover your true self and worth by clarifying

  • your current view of self, what you avoid or fear,

  • your story and its effects on you, your relationships and your choices,

  • what should be better, easier, more attainable.

You are entitled to a fulfilling life. Starting your personal work in therapy is a step towards it.

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Anxiety, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, rumminations, OCD

These concerns cause different challenges depending on their intensity and how they affect your quality of life. In therapy, we find the approach that works for you. We clarify how anxiety intensifies and what calms you down. There may be different causes and reasons for the issues with anxiety, however, a great part of our therapy focus will be awareness.

Here is one of the key questions to disrupt anxious thinking: are my thoughts true or are they causing my current distress and problems? The sooner you can notice (be aware of) your anxious thoughts or feelings, the easier you will find managing the anxiety symptoms and prevent it from intensifying.

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About feelings & emotions

Emotions are mostly involuntary, unconscious responses to our environment, our thinking and interpretations. Their primary purpose is to connect for safety, which is our basic need.

Emotions tend to interplay, e.g. when we feel angry, we might feel guilty soon after; when we feel ashamed, we would also feel like we don't belong and are worthless; when we feel rejected, we may also feel hurt and scared; when we feel helpless, we might feel angry or sad.

Emotions have their signature characteristics which we may notice in our body, e.g. when we are sad, lonely, or scared, we'd feel cold, want to reach out or to withdraw; when anxious, we may feel hot, breathless, pacing.

How much emotion is appropriate to feel in a situation? is one of the questions we work out in therapy.

Understanding our emotions helps us understand ourselves, what and why makes us feel certain way, and choose how we would rather feel and behave.

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Integrating Hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy can be helpful if you are open to the idea of it and want it as part of therapy. It is not required for the therapy to be effective.

The purpose of hypnotherapy is to help you understand and change the root cause of your unwanted automatic behaviour and thinking. 

To benefit from hypnotherapy, you don't need 'to go under' or be deeply relaxed; it's a unique experience and you cannot fail in it. Hypnotic experience is more common than most tend to think. It occurs when we daydream, worry, or are otherwise unaware of our surroundings,  i.e. 'in our head' or 'miles away'. In hypnotherapy, you can intentionally 'be in your head' rather than in the present moment. You are in control, supported and safe all the time throughout the hypnotherapy session and there's no risk of 'not coming out of it'.

Credentials

Registered Member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP)

Mentalisation-Based Treatment (MBT) Practitioner accredited by the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)

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Acknowledgments & Credits

My work and approaches in therapy have been informed and inspired by the acclaimed thinkers and professionals of modern day psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy. I remain grateful for the wisdom of Rollo May, Irvin D. Yalom, David Viscott, Eckhart Tolle, Joe Dispenza, Emily Fletcher, Jeff Allen and Esther Perel.

To facilitate the most effective therapy I can, I continuously update my knowledge and skills drawing from the training and experience shared by doctors and professors, such as Gabor Mate in the field of addictions, trauma, ADHD and body awareness, Marisa Peer in rapid transformational therapy / hypnotherapy, Terry Real and Esther Perel in working with relationships, Bessel van der Kolk, Janina Fisher, Pat Ogden, Peter Levine, Dan Siegel in trauma treatment and psychosomatic approaches, Ramani Durvasula, Marsha Linehan, Christine Dunkley, Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman in working with difficulties due to borderline or narcissistic personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and impulsivity, Tony Attwood and Michelle Garnet in understanding and therapy for people with autism.

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