The Sanctuary ~ Lane Cove
For referring Doctors, therapists, counsellors and other health professionals.
We appreciate your referrals and would like you to inform you about the service we provide back to you when you refer your clients/patients to us.
Firstly, we ask that you agree to a short consult with Dr. Roby Abeles, (Doctorate in Psychology, Clinical Member CAPA) prior to your client attending one of our workshops. We want to be assured that we are the best possible next step for them and if we are not we will work closely with you to find what is.
As you may know, group work can be a modality to be worked towards and in some cases individual counselling/therapy may need to be the first step. It is our experience that some clients may first need to be able to 'contain' their own emotions to some degree before they can be in a group setting as the emotion expressed by others in a group setting can be too much for some individuals early on in their personal growth work. That being said we often find that the group is a wonderful venue for some clients to be able to express themselves in a very, safe, supported and profound way for the first time. This experience in itself can be very liberating and esteem building for clients.
On completion of your client's weekend workshop we offer a further consult with Dr. Abeles to give you an evaluation of your client's progress and goal completion. We believe in working as a team with you for your client's benefit and have found that working together towards this goal is of benefit to all concerned.
Please download and email or fax (02 9953 0041) the following Consent to Release Information Form to us to begin this process.
Our work is always fully client-centred and driven. We encourage self-responsibility rather than a world-view in which a victim/rescuer/perpetrator framework is employed. We favour an empowering approach with our clients and encourage them to own their part in the events that have occurred in their lives. From this place of self-responsibility, they can begin to create a future for themselves which is self-supporting and self-motivated.
Any of the following processes may be used during our group weekend workshops, some processes are done in large groups format and some in smaller groups with a client/facilitator ratio of not more than 4:1
- Gestalt processes including empty chair work, dreamwork, large group processes to build self-esteem and assertiveness skills
- Satirian family sculpting
- Psychodrama
- Inner child meditations and letter writing
- Art therapy
- Music therapy
- Ego state work
- Identifying, Owning and Accepting Positive and Negative Projections
- Hands-on bodywork by trained and qualified Somatic Counsellors
Daniel J. Siegel M.D., states that mental health is a function of ascribing meaning to what has happened to us. (Siegel, 1999) To help our clients understand their history and why they are how they are, we include a didactic component wherein we educate our clients about the following;
- The Bowenian multi-generational transmission process of issues and physical symptomology including anxiety, depression and addictions, some of which are 'carried' issues unresolved by the parent and unconsciously acted out by subsequent generations of offspring
- Current quantum physics discoveries regarding emotional states and the body's physiological states
- Stephen Levine's work regarding the body 'holding' trauma in the muscle fascia as a function of implicit memory. Issue resolution particularly in reference to trauma, is currently seen as being a synergistic combination of; the physical body gently releasing stored energy from the muscles; the emotional release of trauma from the body; the cognitive understanding of what happened; the spiritual understanding of what happened in a larger picture.
- Stages of relationships and emotional development as well as the process of emotional arrests from various perspectives including basic attachment theory (Bowlby, Main & Ainsworth) and Eriksonian developmental stages, which can explain a client's current level of functioning to them.
- Cognitive processes of identifying and updating irrational beliefs.
Patterns set up in utero, during the birth process or as children, which continue to be played out unconsciously as adults. These patterns are identified and brought into conscious awareness where choice can be made to alter them if desired. The understanding of these unconscious patterns often help participants move from a mental and emotional state of confusion and critical self-abusive patterns to ones in which they can have compassion for themselves and understanding of the patterns which drive their behaviour.