Here are some of Clare’s ramblings – you may find them helpful.
If you have arrived at the mid-life passage you have likely lived longer than you are going to live. In our culture this is framed as “it’s all downhill from here”. “The best is over”. This is particularly pertinent for women who through partriarchy and capitalism have been commodified and suffered the myth that our main value lies in our youth and beauty (and bodies). This has been rammed down our throats from every direction. It doesn’t have to be this way. That said, it takes conscious attention to reframe this lifestage as positive; as a wonderful opportunity to know so much more about yourself and to discover an ease and delight and joy in the everyday of your life that you never dreamt might be possible.
I am often asked this question. Where to begin? There are so many different therapeutic models nowadays. Back in the day Therapy meant Psychoanalysis. Picture the client lying on a couch, looking into the middle distance roaming through the unconscious several days a week. The Therapist sitting with you but out of sight, possibly offering a sound or a comment but possibly not. This school of therapy still exists and some people find it enormously helpful but it is only one of many options, some with acronyms - TA, EFT, EMDR, PST, CBT, CAT, MBT, DBT, IPT, NLP, as well as Primal, Gestalt, Integrative, Psychodynamic, Systemic, Humanistic, Psychosynthesis, Narrative, Person Centred, Phenomenological and that’s before we consider art, drama, equine (or any animal assisted), walking / wilderness and horticulture therapy. Perhaps it looks like a minefield.
How do you choose? Where do you start?
