Karen Thomas

A conversation with Karen Thomas

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

  In the early 2000s I reached a cross-road and a knowing that something was missing in my personal life and in my career. So I began studying psychotherapy and took classes at the Cairnmillar Insitute in Melbourne, Australia. Immersed in the field of psychotherapy, there awakened in me a passion for understanding people's inner emotional and psychological worlds and helping them in their growth and healing.
  
  Prior to counselling, I worked for many years in education as an academic, teaching Indonesian language, and in business as business director of a tutoring business and as consultant in human resource managment in the early 2000s. A few years later I moved into the role of Research Fellow in Asian theatre studies. While I have loved assisting people in their learning in specific work related areas, I realised I was drawn to helping people holistically, ie helping the whole person in the context of their life.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?

  Eugene Gendlin's Focusing approach that is underpinned by his philosophy of the implicit, opens up a whole new world perspective that lies beyond what we are traditionally aware of. His Focusing-Oriented approach in psychotherapy invites us to experience ourselves deeply without relying on the intellect, to attend to the wisdom of the body and to the felt sense of what's inside us. He points us to felt-sensing, ie to sense into- and speak from our body - the body's sensations and its whole experiences that develop organically and in relationship with others. This approach invites us attune to our bodily felt meanings that lead us to an inner knowing of who we are deep down and what next step we can or need to take that feels right. As we pause to stay with our moment-by-moment experiencing, we come to know not only our emotions but also what lies underneath them at a deep, vast and often untouched level.

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

  Aspects of health: Relationship issues, family violence, working with intrusive childhood trama memories, anxiety, dreams and nightmares, self-awareness, inner conflict, the inner critic, intrapersonal and interpersonal difficulties, emotional regulation.
  
  Human journey: Adults of all ages and life-stages up to 100+ years, relationship breakup, separation, long-term relationships, parenting issues, grief and loss, identity issues, cultural diversity, LGBTQI+, elder abuse.

• What methods do you use?

  Humanistic experiential approach with methods drawn from Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Attachment Theory, Existential Psychotherapy, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Person-Centred Therapy, Trauma-Informed practices, sensitivity to cultural diversity and difference.

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

  Six weekly sessions are recommended to start with. At the sixth session, your progress is reviewed together. Depending on the progress made, you may wish to drop back to fortnightly, three-weekly or monthly sessions. Or you might choose to take a break and return to counselling at a later date.

• How has therapy made a difference in your life?

  Therapy, and in particular Focusing, has brought me greater self-awareness, reflectiveness, and curiosity about my inner world. My relationship with myself has changed deeply, which has greatly impacted who I am personally and who I am in relationship with others. Being open to- and cultivating my own inner knowing allows me to be a better therapist with clients. As we embark on the therapy journey together, I help clients organically to find their centre, create space inside, and be with what comes. Here forms an inner expansiveness from which to carry life forward in a way that feels right.

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

  Accompanying clients in their healing journey as they growing and transform into the authentic person they long to be.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

  They are very rare as my daily practice of Focusing keeps me both anchored within myself and alert to any subtle stirrings inside me that need my attention or that need space and company.

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

  Listening to our inner worlds, listening to each other in our relationship with family members, colleagues at work, students and staff at school, members of organisations, government, cultural and community groups, in political, religious, sporting contexts locally and internationally.