Everyone lives with a philosophy, but not everyone knows what theirs is.  Prior to modern psychology and before we popularized terms like 'core beliefs', 'patterns', and 'maladaptive thinking', questions of how to live and what makes a good life have been asked by philosophers, artists, religious seekers, and writers.  There are many ways to describe what Existential Therapy is. As a practitioner, this is how I'll describe what I do in practice: 

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1. I resist the urge to label, and I encourage you to do the same. 

In existential thinking,  we try not to jump to conclusions and instead, adopt a way of seeing that remains curious, open, and descriptive.  Leaning too much into ready-made labels of how and what we are can sometimes hijack the process of true understanding, instead sending us into the same old familiar ways of identifying what is 'wrong' with us instead of actually grasping the situation at hand. It is easy to match the symptoms we find in ourselves and what we see on the internet and reduce ourselves to a disorder.  Sure, it can be comforting to put a name to what we are experiencing, but get too attached to that and we find ourselves in another identity trap.  In my practice I encourage us to expand and deepen our understanding of you, and to challenge convenient and tired narratives of who you are.

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2.  The ultimate goal isn't always a lack of suffering and an absence of anxiety. 

The goal of therapy is not always about eliminating anxiety and distress, but for you to understand if your suffering makes sense to you and is worth the while.  In fact, certain decisions that you make in your pursuit of greater fulfilment may generate a lot of uncertainty and anxiety in the near term.  In therapy, we can work towards getting clarity and making space for you to grow your capacity so you can hold and move through your anxieties.

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3.  We live in paradoxes, contradictions, and tensions.  

We are complex beings living in tension between freedom and responsibility, life and death,  acceptance and agency to change.  We hear things like 'live like each day is our last', and also 'live like each day is the first day of the rest of our lives'.  And both are right. What other paradoxes do you find yourself in?  When we make your polarities and contradictions explicit in the way you live, we can locate where you are and how you want to exist in these tensions.  

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4.  Therapy isn't only about self-discovery, it is also about self-creation.

You are not a completed project waiting to be examined with a microscope.  Sure, we reflect and understand. But life is best examined when there is some living in the first place.  I encourage you to be alive in our sessions and outside of the consultation room.  Allow yourself to try a different way of being if that is what help you to live well, and we talk about what that's like for you and what your concerns are.