10 Questions with Max Rutherford

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

• From an early age I have been interested in science, the arts, literature, philosophy and the nature of reality. My interest in psychotherapy grew naturally from these earlier preoccupations.

• Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional/personal development?

• The philosophical approaches that have most influenced me are: The Conversational Model of Russell Meares; Existential Psychotherapy (Irvin Yalom, Robert Miller), Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (Adam Phillips, Christopher Bollas, Neville Symington), Neuro-Psychoanalysis (Mark Solms).
  
  My work is also grounded in over thirty years worth of practicing and teaching mindfulness meditation.

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

• I have a particular interest in how people accommodate to the challenge of chronic illness.

• What method/s do you use?

• I try to listen to, and understand, as best I can, whatever the patient brings ... and I work from there.

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

• Progress in therapy is dependent upon the patients willingness to get in touch with the fundamental sources of their own motivations and behaviors. The first task is to understand who we are and what's happening in our lives. After that the task is to figure out what what has to change in order to move forward with whatever issues brought us to therapy in the first place. There are no universal formula's for how to do this. No two patients are the same. No two therapists are the same. Each process of therapy has to evolve in its own way towards it's own unique conclusion. Sometimes this can happen in a single session. Sometimes it takes much longer. The important things is for each party to keep checking in with the other to ensure that the process stays on track.

• How has therapy made you a better person?

• I hope so but it's not for me to say

• What do you like most about being a therapist?

• In my role as a therapist I get to know people in a very profound way and it's a privilege to learn what's in their hearts and minds. I have learned more about therapy and about life from my patients than from any other source and what's wonderful about this work is that every patient teaches me something valuable and new.

• Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?

• I don't have much hair but metaphorically I do!

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

• Social isolation and the loss of community

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

• I have been influenced by so many people and experiences that it's hard to come up with particular examples without skewing the impression they might leave.