Work philosophy -
this is how I would like to work with you
It might sound a bit worn; but I don't know how to express it better: I am a therapist out of passion and conviction. I am very fortunate to have made my vocation a profession that I pursue with a lot of joy and commitment. I am convinced that counselling and therapy do make things better. Change is possible, even if it sometimes takes a lot of energy and motivation. So that you can get an impression of my attitude, I would like to use this story by Eckart von Hirschhausen, a German doctor how became an author and comedian:
"Many years ago I visited a zoo. I looked at a penguin on a rock and thought to myself: “You are such a poor creature… your wings are too small, you can not fly and worst of all: The creator didn’t even give you knees… My mind was made up: Constructional defect!
Suddenly my penguin jumped into the water and now he was flying… Wow! He was in his element… With the equivalent amount energy of one liter fuel they can swim 2000km. Penguins are excellent swimmer and hunter and they enjoy being in the water. They are more advanced than anything built by humans. And I thought: constructional defect!
The pinguin reminds my of two facts: First, how fast I am with my prejudices and how wrong I am with that in so many cases, especially when I see a person only in one situation. Second, how important is the environment for developing our strengths. If you are born a pinguin, you can make 7 years psychotherapy and your a still a pinguin and not an elephant. I good therapist knows that and won't talk with you why you would like to be an elephant or what happend in your childhood that you wish to be an elephant. A good therapist will ask you: Who are you? What are your resources? Are you in the right environment? How can we change that? If your are a pingiun and you are in the desert, it is not your fault if things doesn't work. Make little steps towards your water and you will feel how good that is! Use your resources instead of concentrating on your weakness."
After graduating from the University of Bremen with a degree in psychology, I worked in youth and family welfare for several years. There I also completed certified training in systemic trauma counselling. After that, I made the license to practice behavioral therapy at the Hannover Medical School and at the training institute for behavioral therapy and behavioral medicine.
This mixture of different procedures and jobs naturally also influences the way I work. Here I am less concerned with a general definition of these two ways of helping people and more about my interpretation of the concepts so that you can get an impression of how I work.
Behavioral therapy has diverse roots in learning theory and experimental psychology. Problematic behavior is in the behavioral therapeutic sense an inadequate reaction to current, overwhelming environmental requirements. This means that the strategies learned so far can no longer cope with the current situation. Often the individual assessment of the situation is also an unfavorable approach. The aim is therefore to learn new strategies / assessments by strengthening self-regulation and offering help for self-help. It is therefor important too, to enclosure the environmental issues and to have a closer look to the function of the problematic behaviour.
My main focus is on your individual learning history and the development of your resources. What you think, what you feel and how you behave are closely related. Our cooperation aims to uncover these relationships and change unfavorable schemes. Therapy cannot work miracles, and yet I am convinced that change is always possible. The cogently thing about learning theory is that you can always learn or relearn.
Especially the therapeutic attitude of Carl Rogers is important in my work: The encounter at eye level in order to find good solution strategies for current problems together.
In therapy, I also orientate myself towards the five effect factors of psychotherapy according to Klaus Grawe:
- Therapeutic relationship: A good quality of the relationship between you and me contributes significantly to a better therapy result.
- Resource activation: Your personality traits that you use in the therapy are used as positive resources for the therapeutic approach.
- Problem updating: The problems that are to be changed in the therapy should be directly tangible. This can happen, for example, by looking for real situations in which the problems arise, or by using special therapeutic techniques for actualizing the problem related issues such as behavioral analysis, imagination exercises.
- Motivational clarification: The therapy promotes suitable measures so that you can gain a clearer awareness of the determinants (origins, backgrounds, sustaining factors) of your problematic experience and behavior.
- Problem management: The treatment supports you with proven problem-specific measures ( directly or indirectly) in having positive coping experiences in dealing with your problems.