Client story: Outsider Writing As Therapy
There are many ways our Counselling team supports clients to process their experiences. One of our clients (name withheld) has been attending Counselling sessions at YourCH for some time, and has found writing to be a wonderful medium through which they can explore and discuss their life experiences.
In the piece below, they give an inside look into the creative process and how writing has helped them get the most out of their Counselling sessions. We hope you enjoy the client’s beautiful writing and this insight into the different ways our Counsellors support our clients.
Outsider Writing As Therapy
During therapy I found that my stories were hard for me to speak out loud so I began writing them down. I unravelled them out from my minds deep body of storage and archived them, beautiful, painful, heartfelt and humorous onto the white lined paper from which my therapist read aloud back to me. The writing alone was not enough, I needed reflection. She gave voice to the stories of my child, youth and adulthood that none had heard before. She took the time to read, resonate and respond to the broad spectrum of my experience and she got it, got me. It helped.
I became aware of the undercurrents of patterns from my before repeated in my now and it helps me navigate my ebbs and flows.
I didn’t worry if my writing was correct, I’m uneducated but that’s beside the point, I write and speak only for myself as a medium of expression.
I used broad brushstrokes to paint the backdrop of my stories using the dramatic expression of my European immigrant background. I wrote strong, sharp lines of condensed reduction from the bogan slang of my youth. I highlighted the characters whose roles influence my world using classical archetypes of Greek mythology. I overstood and underscored all of my experiences drawing from my love of Rastafarian philosophy and Islamic literature and I wrote my dreams using the language of my higher self, via Regia, the royal road writing my inside outside.
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Our generalist Counselling service addresses emotional, social and mental wellbeing, giving you the tools and guidance to navigate life’s stressors.
Counselling is more than a chat – it helps you to break down an issue or problem, explore your emotional needs, and develop strategies and approaches to address it.
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