Psychotherapists and Counsellors Answer your Questions
Conversations with Therapists
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What led you to choose psychotherapy or counselling as a profession?
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Which philosophical approaches have influenced your professional development?
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Which particular aspects of health or the human journey are you interested in?
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What methods do you use?
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When do you think the client will start to feel that progress is being made?
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How has therapy made a difference in your life?
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What do you like most about being a therapist?
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Do you ever have 'bad hair' days?
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What do you think is the most significant problem we face, in the world today?
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Can you share the name of a book, film, song, event or work of art that inspires you?
Veronik Verkest
Global warming and our view of unlimited growth that cannot be sustained with limited resources on this planet.
Limited natural resources to feed and shelter an ever expanding population is one of...
Natalie Meijer
Such a big question but at the root of it all seems like and it seems very corny 'all we need is love'
What would the world be like if we all trusted, loved and respected and recognised ourselves -...
Michael Elwan
One of the most significant challenges is how rarely people feel their experiences are taken seriously by the systems meant to help them. Migration, caregiving, suicide bereavement, family violence,...
Dillon Bensted
I’m concerned by what feels like a breakdown in our capacity for relationship, particularly our willingness to be affected by one another. We can become so invested in having our view of the world...
Helen Basili
The ongoing legacy of colonisation and systemic inequalities resulting in the deliberate exclusion and persecution of deliberately marginalised people and the destruction of the natural environment.
Claire Sydney
One of the greatest challenges we face today is disconnection, from ourselves, from one another, and from our communities. While technology has made communication easier, genuine emotional connection...
Xanthe Katsouras
I don't know.
These are conversations I find little value in, as we all have an ideas of what needs to be fixed to make the world a better place. I am tired of the soapbox.
I don't have the...
Lissette Endacott
The isolation and disconnect of unhealed hurts, wounds and the increasing polarisation of thoughts. Being able to respect and love people with differing beliefs, thoughts and viewpoints is important,...
Sebastian Kinne
From the perspective of a mental health practitioner, I see aloneness and disconnection as among the deepest challenges people face today. As a father, I am mindful of how rapidly evolving...
Alison Turner
Loneliness and disconnection from ourselves, others and nature.
Sanaz Bassiri
The relentless, algorithmic pace of modern life and the pressure to constantly perform. We live in a hyper-connected digital landscape that rewards speed and oversimplification, leaving little room...
Katia Erokhina
Disconnection. From each other, from our communities, from the natural world and sometimes from ourselves. We are increasingly expected to function as self-sufficient individuals, while humans are...
Lisa Paul
Wow where to I start............
Social Media - while I have it, I hate it too......
I think communication is a huge problem, we are losing the ability to know how to interact with each other...
Henry Ferrier
One of the most significant problems we face is disconnection: from other people, from community, and sometimes from ourselves. Many people are surrounded by constant communication but still feel...
Amanda Dounis
Keeping within the field...mental unwellness. I am seeing it from early ages, and we need to not just look at coping skills, but look at what it is in our environment that is feeding it so well.
Stephen Moore
I think one of the greatest challenges we face is increasing division in society. We seem to be becoming more disconnected from one another at a time when we need connection and community more than...
Kelsey Hendrickson
I think social isolation is one of the most significant problems we face in our Western world today. Feeling alone and isolated can lead to a host of other mental health problems and stressors. I...
Matt Garrett
Rating a problem as the most significant can be subjective and set up a comparison about whose woe is worse. In terms of what's lacking? Perhaps it's a lack of shared sense of humanity that can...
Kathleen Goossens
Climate change and the subsequent challenges it brings to people and the planet. Fear, anxiety and intolerance due to diversity and difference.
Jamie Rickcord
From where I sit, it's disconnection — and I don't just mean it as a general observation, I mean it in the fairly literal, physiological sense my own research has pushed me toward. I spent ten years...
Noemi Papp
I think one of the most significant problems we face today is inequality. It impacts people’s access to opportunities, resources, and wellbeing. It highlights the importance of understanding people...
Jennifer Nurick
I believe one of the most significant problems we face is a lack of compassion, for ourselves, for one another and for experiences different from our own. When we meet fear and pain with judgment,...
Ashley Thomson
I find this an incredibly difficult question to answer, and not because answers don't come to mind: genocide, imperial colonialism, global warming, the ongoing pandemic, fascism, transphobia, the...
Linda Bartolone
I think one of the greatest challenges we face is disconnection, from ourselves, from one another and from what truly matters. We live in a culture that rewards productivity and constant forward...
Marie Mooney
Disconnection from each other brought about by fear and difficulty communicating how we really feel and listening and understanding where others are coming from.
Jean Gamble
One of the significant problems we face today is that we have accepted as normal, the lifestyle we have willingly ascribed to and this lifestyle is responsible for the burgeoning rates of ill mental...
Sarah Bergman
I feel the most significant problem we face in the world today, especially the western world is that we are forgetting how to rest deeply. By resting deeply I mean within ourselves, connected to...
Uri Bookman
Disconnection — from ourselves, from one another and from the communities and natural world we belong to.
When we lose that sense of connection, fear and division become easier. I don’t imagine...
Kylie Long
Disconnection. We are disconnected from the earth, from nature, and from our own true wild natures.
We are living with the legacy of multiple generations of trauma - the exploitation of the earth,...
Ash Rehn
I'm reluctant to propose something as the 'most significant' problem we face because 1. our lives are multi-storied and 2. people are diverse and face a diversity of challenges depending on where they...
Martina Palombi
I think the lack of understanding that human beings are much closer to animals in terms of the evolution of our brain development and nervous system than we realise. This fact speaks to our short term...
Jennifer Fox
The impact our species is having on the planet through climate change and how to engage in ways of reducing that impact and being adaptable to making changes.
Miranda Fagan
While there are many social issues that we all face every day (sexism, ableism, homophobia, sectarianism, transphobia, etc), the one that looms overhead for me is the future health of our planet as it...
Sonya Thompson
I believe stress, overwhelm, and intense social pressure are some of the biggest challenges people face today. Many of us are pushed to keep up with unrealistic expectations, leaving little room to...
Tara King
One of the most significant problems we face today is the growing disconnect between what human beings fundamentally need for emotional wellbeing and the pressures of the modern world. As Gabor Maté...
Lisa Milne
I believe that fragmentation of social bonds and disconnection are some of our social world's greatest challenges, beyond the physical realities of poverty, inequality and environmental change.
Tessa Ipp
Finding our true self and living from a place of authenticity so that we can love the imperfections of who we are.
Gabriele (Gabe) Marranci
The world's most significant challenge today is the need for more empathy and understanding. Global problems like climate change and inequality require teamwork that crosses borders. It's important to...
Geoff Heard
On a world scale, many of the basic requirements for living a dignified life are missing. Millions of people do not have sufficient food, land or security to raise healthy families. The causes are...
Teresa Wilkinson
We live in a community that does not talk alot about emotions. People are often feeling isolated with how they feel and at times others do not know how to support them and be open and honest about...
Tony Monaghan
One of them is how social media competes for our attention constantly, and can rob us of our solitude and ability to reflect, to think deeply, and feel whats happening around us.
Another is how...
Megan Drummond
I believe one of the most significant problems we face today is the growing inability to tolerate discomfort, which fuels entitlement and avoidance.
Many people struggle with sitting in...
Geraldine McKay
I would say that poverty, climate change, health care, mental health, and ageing are issues that we face as a society.
Robyn Price
Disconnection. Disconnection is leading to an increase in the levels of fear, anxiety and depression in our midst. And how we have seen that during the Covid-19 situation as governments mandate...
Rob Gray
Disconnection — from ourselves, from each other, from meaning. We have more information than any generation in history and less wisdom about what to do with it. People are drowning in the visible...
Steven Segal
We are living in a world of existential anxiety and existential threats. Many nations fear themselves to be under an existential threat, a threat to their way of life. Many cultures feel under...
Gidon Weinstein
I believe the struggle to find our genuine, congruent voice is a major challenge. If more people could embrace their authentic selves, grounded in peace and love, the world would be a far better place.
Gaye Mallinson
There are so many - where do I start! I know that all I can do is do the best I can on any given day and hope I can be that candle in the darkness for my clients when they need it most...so we can...
Samantha Goldrick
The most significant problem? I think it is hard to pick just one but I believe we are starting to see a radical re-examination of our relationship to work, technology and productivity and the...
Paula Yanis
One of the most significant challenges we face today is disconnection — from ourselves, from one another, and from the communities and environments that sustain us. Despite being more connected...
Carolyn Choy
I believe the most significant problem we face today is a profound sense of disconnection. We live in an era where we are more 'connected' than ever digitally, yet many of us feel increasingly...
Ernst Meyer
Our diminishing capacity to respectfully disagree, and our increased movement towards social isolation, or entering echo chambers.
Tania Djipalo
We need connection more than ever, with ourselves, with our loved ones, our communities and the beautiful natural world around us. Connection with nature is an easy natural way for us all to feel more...
Stefan Durlach
The increasing loss of soul, sense of the sacred, and reverence in our world. I believe that visible manifestations of this loss are multiple massive crises occurring at the same time (environmental,...
Rowan Druce
The world is an interwoven web. To focus on a single problem as most significant runs too great a risk of losing perspective of the interconnected nature of life. Like the world, a person is not a...
Brenda Rowlandson
Many!
Basically, conflict and loss of empathy. How do we stay in relationship, personally and globally, whilst negotiating all the issues that affect us and keep us in fear and isolation. Climate...
Rima Alkadamani
In my view, one of the most significant challenges we face globally is the widespread experience of disconnection both from ourselves, from each other, and from our environment. This disconnection...
Micaella Gogoski
One of the most significant challenges we face today is a growing disconnection from emotional awareness and nervous system regulation, both within individuals and across society.
Many people are not...
Jade Fisher
Disconnection. We've lost reciprocity and right relationship - with Earth, with each other, with ourselves, with the more-than-human world.
Our dominant paradigm is power over rather than power...
Debby Heath
A lack of real connection to both self and others. I believe that if we were more loving and connected to our 'real selves' we would have better relationships with others - more love, empathy,...
Jaclyn Cunningham
I think our fundamental belief in separation and the sickness that is extreme individualism is at the core of most of our challenges. Separation not just from other humans but from our fundamental...
Lisa Moore
This is a difficult question to answer. The world is a huge planet that has existed for billions of years. It is meant to be shared but in my humble option, we humans haven’t always done a...
Kristy-Lee Ferry
For me, it comes back to disconnection.
Disconnection from ourselves… from each other… and from the world around us.
When people are disconnected from themselves, they lose that internal...
Joanna Penty
For me it's climate change, the heating up of the planet and the tragic loss of biodiversity that has taken millions and millions of years to evolve; the human tragedy, the loss of vast swathes of...
Jennifer Fernandez
I think the most significant problem we face is disconnection — from ourselves, from each other, and from the natural world. We live in a time shaped by systemic forces that prioritise productivity,...
Safari Lee
I think one of the biggest challenges we face is a growing sense of disconnection. This can be from ourselves, from each other, and from a sense of meaning or belonging. Even though we have smart...
Matthew White
There are many challenges globally, but from a psychological perspective, I think a significant one is how people cope with uncertainty and change. Whether it’s social, economic, or personal,...
Karen Rose
Goodness, I wasn't expecting this question. There are so many that no response I could give in this teeny text box could possibly do these issues justice.
Julie Catt
One of the most significant challenges we face today is a growing sense of disconnection from one another’s humanity. In times of uncertainty and rapid change, many people feel unseen,...
Fiona Giles
Accelerating climate change is an unbearably upsetting problem, especially since our politicians have wasted so many opportunities for mitigation and prevention. Loss of biodiversity due to...
Nicole Kinnaird
Big question! The first thing that comes to mind is the sense of disconnect from ourselves, one another and Nature. I probably think this is the biggest problem we face in the world, because I feel it...
Rostik Bershadsky
Modern life is full of wonderful people, good stuff, rich experiences, and lucky opportunities; however, it also brings about many challenges and confronts us with ever higher demands and resulted...
Adrian Workman
The foundational crisis is climate change.
It is the multiplier of other crises, and is interconnected with many more global issues.
Philipa Thornton
Loss of connection and community. Although we are part of the global village, I think there are so many of us out there feeling isolated behind a screen. We are social creatures and long for the...
April Lewis
I think that the most significant problem that we face stems from a lack of harmony, imbalance with our planet, imbalance with each other, and imbalance within ourselves. Many people on this planet...
Erin Galt
There is just too much of everything, to the extent that we can easily become overwhelmed, overstimulated and under satisfied, and I think people struggle to slow down, take a moment to breathe and be...
Careena Cook
Lack of awareness of ourselves and others and ignorance of the fact that all things are connected.
Inability to be in the moment because of the pressure of ‘progress’ and the heaviness which...
Priscilla Schwartzman
Disconnection from ourselves, from each other, from nature, and from what truly matters feels like one of the most significant challenges of our time. Many of the struggles people bring into therapy,...
Kate McMaugh
Environmental destruction. And love of money. I mean, we all appreciate money, dont get me wrong. But when we put money ahead of goodness, kindness and looking after our world, including the...
Daisy Dollisson-Oatley
Lack of supportive community. I think the individualistic culture is a huge problem and so many of our difficulties stem from lack of mature, capable community.
Crawf Weir
A growing disconnection from kindness, compassion, and genuine care for one another. When people feel unseen or unsafe, fear and self-protection take over. Re-learning how to be unselfish, emotionally...
Ann Edvall
I believe social media has had a profound impact on the way we interact with one another. We are slowly losing the ability to truly listen to different perspectives, and our attention spans are...
Michael Grunwald
Global warming and our inability to motivate decision-makers to take appropriate action with a long-term outlook, regardless of the exact cause of the problem.
Fiona Akal
Disconnection — from ourselves, each other, and the systems meant to support us. Reconnection takes time, but it’s possible.
Jocelyn Brewer
Losing our ability to connect and show compassion for others. Not necessarily because of the way technology has colonised our lives but certainly, this might have accelerated it.
Michelle Tadros
We are living in a time of immense conflict and upheaval, with many of the structures we once relied on for safety and stability now dismantled. This creates a sense of chaos and confusion, leaving...
Giulia Fiore
I think that social isolation is probably the most predominant problem in western culture. To achieve individualistic goals, we have downplayed the importance of relationships. Furthermore, the...
Lu Migliore
I believe that AI is going to challenge our human systems which have already been under pressure since the digitisation of our world with the proliferation of the internet.
What does it mean to be...
Eric Rangel Oliveira
One of the biggest challenges we face today is the growing disconnect between modern advancements and our overall well-being. Despite incredible progress in medicine, many people in Western societies...
Robyn Bowman
The most significant problem I see in the lives of people is the fear of judgement by other people, exacerbated by social media.
Megan McGrath
Disconnection—both from ourselves and each other. We’re more digitally connected than ever, but often less emotionally connected and present in real life. Social media plays a big part in that. It...
Ron Dowd
The loss of the relational standpoint; our inability to accept difference.
When we lose the relational, we lose empathy for others and for the environment.
When we lose the sense that we...
Gregory Poll
From my professional perspective, it is emotional disconnection... we live in the Dark Age of emotional Illiteracy and suppression that causes humans' inability to connect with themselves and so...
Nathan Dick
The most significant problem we face is probably climate change, however, I think we are thwarted from facing the challenge largely due to the disconnected individualism of the West. I think we need...
Carol Marando
The breakdown in human relationships. Climate change. Greed. Suffering. Purpose and meaning.
Debbie O'Connor
I think that the pace at which we live in our society at this point in history leaves us without time to give to our most profound needs, that is, connection with the people we are most intimate with...
Tamara Pallos
Climate change and environmental destruction (we can't live in the world if it becomes uninhabitable)! Also neoliberal political models that dehumanise people and make it increasingly complex to find...
Karen Druce
It is hard to isolate the most significant problem. In the western world, I think the frenetic pace of life, increased materialism, climate change, and the erosion of a deep spiritual dimension...
Mairead Cleary
I believe our most significant problem is our disconnection from Nature, and from natural systems & cycles. Our natural world, our natural resources, our wildlife, our forests and even our own human...
David Anthony
Hmmm. Difficult to find the “most”. Giving it some thought, a lot of the big issues (social media, political division, distribution of wealth, etc) could find their way back to “power” - the...
Natasha Lawrence
Lack of communication and loneliness. In a world where we are so connected, I see more and more disconnection. Losing ourselves in screens exacerbates the sense of being alone and cut off as well as...
Rosa Oyta
I believe that the most significant problem we face in the world today is the widespread prevalence of mental health issues. As we know, depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders have...
Rina Taub
Unfortunately inequality, racism, discrimination and abuse still exist and the physical threat of war and terrorism. Third world problems of experiences of isolation and loneliness, perfection and...
Jamie Dimech
Stress overload, and the impact of stress on our ability to experience deep relational safety as well as optimal physical and emotional health.
Amber Rules
Empathy, both for ourselves and others. In my mind, empathy is a vital ingredient to feeling that we have enough and that we are enough. If we were more practised at empathy, I think we would suffer...
Jacqueline Nevin
Connection - or lack of it. As a society we have become more isolated.
Jacqueline McDiarmid
Not having enough time with our loved ones - our partners and our children. Lack of time together really affects closeness in relationships.
Jessica McMillan
I think there are 2 things:
1. Not holding each other with compassion. People are very quick to judge each other and expect the worst.
2. Not communicating from kindness. When we can have...
Karin McLennan
We have forgotten what love is. In truth, love is the most powerful force in the universe, and if we were to collectively harness love together we could transform our world. If every individual on the...
Conny Davis
Too many outside influences that makes us feel insignificant, always comparing ourselves to others and attachment to materials; the loss of healthy human and community attachments.
Amy Datyner
The prioritisation of productivity and economics over core contributors to good mental health (e.g. rest, play, social connectedness, time for enjoyable interests, sense of meaning).
Howard Colin-Thome
Loneliness, disconnection, Covid and global instability seem to be factors most impacting today.
Kerstin Buccoliero
I believe that being too individualised, and fixated on outcomes, rather than living in the here and now, is the root cause for the negative impacts on the planet and our society. In short the I, me,...
Janelle Wright
Isolation and disconnection with other individuals, groups and cultures. This also leads us to isolation from our environment and the harm that we are causing to our planet.
Michael Vaccaro
You could say that diagnostically we are facing a mental health epidemic. Anxiety and depression are running rampant in our current state of life. I feel as though the fundamental cause for this...
Graeme James
Everything is changing in a fast paced, socially and technologically connected world. It can amplify or detract from the meaning of everything. Whether we are young or old, most of us face changes of...
Mia Kennedy
There are many and I don't believe one to be the most significant. Perhaps due to my experience I do believe the abuse of drugs and alcohol to be up there though. However, the question then becomes...
Martin Hemsley
Where to start? Intolerance, prejudice, injustice in its many many forms. Blindness to privilege.
Also, I think a huge problem is being caught in a narrow sense of who we are - we are so much more...
