Online and in person from £65/hr
THERAPY FOR INDIVIDUAL ADULTS
About Ifield Therapy
Jolanta Culpan
Psychotherapist, Counsellor and Hypnotherapist
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.
My Approaches to Concerns
Addictions
Addiction is something we continue engaging with even when we know it's bad for us.
My therapy approach is based on understanding that addictive behaviour has a purpose and a function. It's a result of problems in the past. And, even though it's unhealthy and destructive, it feels like a solution to your recurrent problems in the present. And it may be too hard to see the future any different.
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, historic and repetitive thoughts about yourself.
Once you start seeing what keeps you stuck, it becomes easier to find alternatives and solutions.
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
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your current view of self, what you avoid or fear,
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your story and its effects on you, your relationships and your choices,
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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.
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 you can manage the anxiety symptoms and prevent it intensifying.
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)
For my MBT Practitioner profile, please visit https://www.bpc.org.uk/professionals/kite-mark-therapist/find-a-kite-marked-therapist/26607/
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, 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.
