About AnamCara
AnamCara
The Irish tradition of storytelling has been a staple of our culture for generations. From fairy trees to St Patrick, these stories have been an important part of the fabric of Irish life. In the Celtic tradition it was believed that we each have an Anam Cara, a soul friend. Someone whom you can be completely open with, who can accept the “real” you and can see your inner beauty and light.
However, you wouldn’t receive the true benefits of this relationship until you could see this beauty and light within yourself. In choosing the name I wanted to reflect something of the nature of helping others connect with their own true identity, not by creating something new but by revealing what is already true within each of us.
The Mission and Approach
I offer coaching, counselling and supervision as a highly effective means of enabling change in people’s personal and professional lives. Bringing a strength based, resource based perspective to help people think more positively about how they move into their preferred futures.
The Solution Focussed approach is a really unique way of looking at problems and working with people. Developed in the 1980s by husband and wife team Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, along with their colleagues at the Brief Family Centre in Milwaukee, their research led to the discovery that exploring problems did not lead to change.
In essence, they discovered that there are 2 different ways to solve a problem – by looking at what’s wrong and trying to fix it or looking at what’s right and trying to build it. Through many years of observing “what works” in therapy, they discovered that working together with clients to arrive at their own solutions produced the most effective, efficient and long-lasting results.
At the heart of the approach is the belief that the individual knows what they need, they are the expert in their own lives. It promotes a deep listening to what people are truly saying and conveys profound respect for and hope in the individual – an approach that honours and aligns with my own personal and professional values.
The Process
Focus
We start by creating an outcome for our work together. What are your best hopes from our talking? We use this to develop a description of what you hope to achieve from our work. How will you know this has been useful? This helps us to determine if we are on the right track to bringing about these changes in your life.
Empowerment
If you woke up tomorrow and your best hopes were happening, how would you know? The question opens the door to possibilities, inviting you into a detailed description of a future in which your desired outcome is in view. It feels empowering to discover the skills, capabilities, strengths and resources that pre-exist within each of us.
Change
What are you doing that already fits with your desired outcome? Exploring when and how you have already been able to achieve aspects of your preferred future cultivates the growth that begins to emerge as we journey through the process of change.