Helen Brittan

A conversation with Helen Brittan

• What led you to choose psychotherapy or counselling as a profession?

  My own learning, personal search & experiences of therapy formed a basis to want to work in this area. I believe that while we cannot always choose what happens to us in this life, we can choose how we respond to it. I had the opportunity to retrain & up-skill in my 40's and shifted from working in adult education to studying counselling at the master's level. After working in the not-for profit sector with women for over 10 years, and now in private practice, I continue to find great purpose & satisfaction in supporting both clients and other practitioners on their journeys.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  I work within a broad Person-Centered framework, which offers respect and care for every individual, and recognises they are on their own unique journey through life. This approach holds confidence that people can find their own solutions, with the right supports. I believe my job is to offer a safe space to review and reflect on your life and individual issues in ways that support the discovery of your strengths & resiliencies in the first instance. After that, we look together at the areas that may benefit from new skills, trauma resolution and relational insights to support your growth into desired change.
  
  I also integrate insights and approaches from Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Existential therapy and Attachment theory. My knowledge and training in Internal Family systems (IFS), Schema Therapy, EMDR and Image Rescripting is also helpful to promote change to unhelpful core beliefs, low self-esteem and other trauma impacts.

• Which particular aspects of health or the human journey are you interested in?

  I am passionate about supporting women to become more empowered in their lives. From birth, many people (including most women) are socialised by family, culture and society to be people-pleasing and disempowered in particular ways. While social and legal change has led to good progress in legal protection for women & minority groups and increasing recognition of our rights, these benefits can be difficult to access and there are many practical impediments to accessing basic rights both in Australia and around the world. For example, a simple lack of confidence, fear of speaking up, or knowledge about your rights can disempower you, as can poverty, fears of authority figures, and a lack of supportive resources such as emergency housing, timely police responses or court orders among many others. I have both experienced first-hand & seen the impacts of these impediments on women's lives and so I love seeing a woman's confidence in herself grow, as trauma impacts dissipate and new skills in assertiveness, self-care and relationships take their place.

• What methods do you use?

  When you reach out to me, I offer a short phone conversation to learn about your situation and needs and to discuss how I may be able to support you, or to recommend other services if needed. If you feel comfortable to make an appointment, I will then send an intake pack with all the information needed to find the rooms, parking, practice policies etcetera...
  
  In the first appointment, I listen, ask questions and build up a picture of your current situation and needs, and what you would like to be different after therapy.
  
  I may then ask if you are happy to do a couple of assessments to help pin-point particular symptoms or struggles. These include things like checking PTSD symptoms, looking at core beliefs which hamper you etc...
  
  After this we discuss together how to support you now, in the short term, with immediate interventions (such as skill building, managing anxiety in the moment etc...)
  In longer term therapy, I use a mixture of methods, often including trauma treatments such as EMDR, IFS, informed by Family Systems Therapy, Attachment theory, Schema therapy, Mindfulness and others.

• When do you think the client will start to feel that progress is being made?

  In the first session! You have made a brave decision and taken action for yourself! If you feel that "I have met someone who feels safe, knowledgeable, skilled and who 'gets it", you will feel a little more connected to support and a sense of hope will emerge. This is progress.
  
  While I cannot predict if each individual journey will take 10 weeks, 10 months or a few years (it depends on many factors such as your starting point, frequency of sessions and your goals) ...my experience is that those clients with deep childhood trauma or neglect can spend 6 months to a year or so in therapy processing trauma and learning new relationship skills. Those who are coping well in life and have a very specific issue they wish to resolve may only use 10-12 sessions. Others may spend some time in therapy now and return again later when new issues emerge as different life events or relationships prompt a need to resolve a new issue.
  
  My client feedback tells me most people leave the process having gained insights about themselves and others, developed new skills in relating to both themselves and other people and have found freedom from the trauma or flexibility in responding to the tricky situations or people that previously bothered them.
  
  While there will be times the process may feel hard, or that you are 'unravelling' before getting 'better', these times are normal and can be managed. You will be supported through them and you will emerge a stronger wiser person, more in charge of your life, than you felt when you started in therapy.
  

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  Therapy has helped me to know myself better, to heal from some deep early life traumas and given me many frameworks and lenses through which to view the world and other people. I have found the main benefit to understanding myself and others better is the increased FLEXIBILITY it has given me in responding to life. Thinking about what I have control over has helped me to let go of that which I cannot change, and to place my efforts where they can be most productive and serve both myself and others best. I have learned I cannot please everyone, boundaries are essential in life and sometimes, radical acceptance is needed to heal from losses we cannot control or change. Most importantly, I have learned to care for & trust myself more, to listen to my needs, honour my strengths and understand my frailties and vulnerabilities. My self-esteem is now 'good enough' to sustain me without becoming arrogant, my capacity to accept imperfection and difference has expanded, and my management of my life decisions has improved. I am so grateful for all I have gained in my own process of therapy.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  I get significant joy from seeing clients come to places of greater self-acceptance and kindness. I love seeing clients develop insights about themselves, their lives and journeys that lift burdens of false guilt, blame and shame from their shoulders... and when they take action to protect themselves from harm and improve their own lives. I love seeing the recent discoveries of neuroscience in action through EMDR, through people discovering that no matter how old you are, it is NEVER too late to change and grow as a person, that our brains retain some plasticity to the end of life, and this can be used to improve our wellbeing & heal old traumas at any stage. I love it when clients try out new ways of being in their lives, whether this is improved self-care or learning to hold boundaries and make assertive statements to protect their rights and needs. Finally, I love it when clients tell me they feel ready to take a break and 'road test' their growth without the support of therapy. WOW! that is really what it's all about for me.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  Not sure what this question means exactly....are we talking about my literal hair? (yes, I have bad hair days like everyone) or my practice of therapy? Being human...I make 'mistakes' and always will...but I strive very hard to be professional and make as few as possible avoidable blunders. However, when they happen, I take responsibility and act professionally to help heal the rupture in the relationship, or the 'mistake', and restore a feeling of calm and trust in the work. No-one is perfect, including a therapist, and sometimes the 'mistakes' can be a good source of growth for both client and therapist if reflected on together. To this end I encourage my clients to talk to me about any confusion or concerns they may experience.

• What do you think is the most significant problem we face, in the world today?

  I often think of the once famous story of this very question being posed as an essay question to academics and thinkers in the UK. The prize-winning answer was provided by G.K Chesterton (early 20th century author, philosopher, apologist & critic), who submitted the following:
  
  Dear Sir,
  I am.
  Yours sincerely,
  G. K. Chesterton.
  
  I think the mental health crisis we have in our world leads to many of the biggest problems we have, and that prioritising MH care would save governments billions from their health budget, help parents to parent better, make happier, healthier societies and prevent wars. For example, imagine if certain world leaders actually believed that others have rights to peace and safety? Maybe they would not bully or invade their neighbours. Imagine if we had the tools to address trauma from war, genocide, family breakdown & to offer them to support people at every stage of life? Imagine if we taught social and communication skills, if we discussed human rights, ethics and philosophy more in schools...would we develop more stable and wise leaders, instead of mere technocrats, or dictators? Imagine if the almighty dollar was not the measure of a healthy society, or productivity was measured differently, what if we made low crime rates, low wealth disparity and good mental and physical health outcomes the measures of societies strength instead of just economic output or the strength of the dollar. It's all so backwards. How can we have unending economic growth in a world with finite resources? Different, more respectful (healthier) ways of thinking about these problems would go a long way to solving them. To paraphrase the great philosopher "as we think, so we are" or "we create from how we think and believe". change starts in the heart of every individual - the "I am" of the essay mentioned above.

• Can you share the name of a book, film, song, event or work of art that inspires you?

  Hmmmm...
  
  George Eliot: Middlemarch. An early feminist & 'psychologist', who wrote:
  
  Prelude:
  "Here and there is born a Saint Theresa, foundress of nothing, whose loving heartbeats and sobs after an unattained goodness tremble off and are dispersed among hindrances, instead of centering on some long recognisable deed."
  Finale:
  (But)....."the growing good of the world is partly dependent on un-historic acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half-owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
  
  We can't all be heroes and superstars, but the dogged work of the unfamous (doctors, nurses, teachers, therapists, and all other 'technicians of life') also contributes to 'the growing good of the world". I am inspired by the courage of every individual who chooses hope over despair, who believes that their small contribution matters as much as the next persons, and who has a vision for a healthy, happier future because of the changes and growth they have embraced.