Mannaz
Therapy Space
Answers to Some Common Questions
Often Asked in the Therapeutic Process
The FAQs. Answers to some common questions often asked about the therapeutic process.
General Questions
Your first session will provide an opportunity for us to get to know each other and for you to get a feeling for what it might be like to be in therapy or coaching.
We will explore what’s led you to seek support, as well as give you space to discuss your expectations, hopes and concerns about the process. Towards the end of the session, we will discuss the dynamics, how you feel the session went, and if and how we might continue working together.
Importantly, it’s good for you to understand that you’re under no obligation to continue. All practitioners work in a unique way, and it’s important that you find someone who fits and feels right.
Counselling and psychotherapy, coaching, and breathwork are confidential processes. What is said in the room stays in the room unless you agree otherwise. That said, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to inform appropriate authorities where you are a danger to yourself or others.
Our work is governed by a code of ethics which includes respecting the privacy of clients by preserving the confidentiality of their information.
Therapy isn’t a quick fix, as much as we’d like it to be. It usually takes a number of sessions before you’ll begin to really see the difference therapy is making. However, on rare occasions, a single session may be enough for you to gain sufficient insight and understanding about your concern, issue, or conflict.
A therapist (counselling, breathwork, and coaching) are non-judgmental and supportive professionals whose main focus is you. We will encourage you to explore and find your own answers to your own unique situation. Our job is to make you feel safe, heard and understood.
Yes, absolutely! Reed’s work increasingly involves meeting and working with couples in same-sex relationships as well as the broader LGBTQI community. As a proud member of this community, he is more than happy – some would say keen – to support others in building momentum, insight and understanding.
Running a small private practice is a busy undertaking and sometimes the Mannaz team find themselves at capacity. We do not keep a waitlist as it sets up an unrealistic expectation that spaces may open up in a scheduled and/or organised way. This is usually not the case.
Please get in touch if you would like to book a session or check on availability.
Counselling and psychotherapy do not fall under Medicare or every private insurer; however, Medibank Private, BUPA, Police Health and Emergency Services do offer rebates.
Striking the correct balance between marketing and relationship-building is difficult for therapy practices. Issues like privacy, dual relationships, inside information-gathering, and ethics makes it even more tricky.
Therapy is essentially a private experience; for this reason, Mannaz Therapy Space has developed a social media policy which informs our work with you on these platforms.
Breathwork
Breathwork uses a guided, conscious, connected breath technique for a set length of time to generate a relaxed, non-ordinary state of consciousness that supports the expression and release of unresolved trauma, limiting beliefs and adapted behaviour patterns.
You may have experienced some breathing practices in yoga or meditation, both of which have a long history of utilising the power of breath medicinally.
Contemporary interest in breathwork as a tool for transformation has been sparked by practitioners such as Stan Grof, Wim Hof, Giten Tonkov, James Nestor and Dan Brulé, and tested under peer-reviewed, clinical trials, confirming what ancient traditions such as Ayurveda, Buddhism and traditional Chinese medicine have prescribed for centuries.
The transformation of a breathwork session begins the minute you book. You will be emailed an intake form that will ask for some personal details relevant to the session, your health and what the facilitator needs to know to make sure your journey is tailored for you. It is here that the inner work begins.
When you arrive at your session online you will be taken through an overview of what is going to happen and shown how to do conscious connected breathing. You will be guided when to begin and supported as you breathe.
The session will run for approximately 2 hours, with the intro, the journey and an integration discussion with your facilitator at the end. Every session is accompanied with music that is specifically curated for your journey.
Using a connected breathing pattern of a conscious inhalation and a long slow exhalation through the mouth stimulates the sympathetic nervous system. In doing so, it triggers the autonomic response in the brain that allows the pre-frontal cortex or executive function to go offline temporarily, and the limbic system that regulates trauma response to kick in.
The body is then able to process and release stored trauma residues and unconsciously held trauma while guided by a trained facilitator. The body uses its own intelligence to re-regulate a traumatised nervous system while being supported in the session, and after the breathwork part has completed, the facilitator discusses the session and works with the client to integrate the experience.
Counselling & Psychotherapy
Therapy is the process of meeting with a counsellor or psychotherapist for the purpose of resolving problematic behaviours, beliefs, feelings and related physical symptoms. Therapy uses an interpersonal relationship to help develop the client’s self-understanding and to make changes.
Although counselling and psychotherapy overlap considerably, there are also recognised differences. While the work of both Counsellors and Psychotherapists with clients may be of considerable depth and length, the focus of Counselling is more likely to be on specific problems, changes in life adjustments and fostering the client’s wellbeing. Psychotherapy is more concerned with the restructuring of the personality or self and the development of insight.
Person-centred therapy was developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940s. This type of therapy diverged from the traditional model of the therapist as an expert and moved instead toward a non-directive, empathic approach that empowers and motivates the client in the therapeutic process. You can find detailed info about this approach and why we practice it here.
Professional counselling is a safe and confidential* collaboration between qualified counsellors and clients to promote mental health and wellbeing, enhance self-understanding, and resolve identified concerns. Clients are active participants in the counselling process at every stage.
- Counsellors work with children, young people, adults, couples, families and groups.
- Counselling may be short term, long term, or over a lifetime, according to clients’ needs.
- Counsellors are fully present with their clients, using empathy and deep listening to establish positive working relationships. Counselling is effective when clients feel safe, understood, respected, and accepted without judgement.
- Counselling is a profession with a strong evidence base. Counsellors use empirically supported interventions and specialised interpersonal skills to facilitate change and empower clients.
- Counsellors are trained in a range of modalities to work with clients from diverse backgrounds.
Counselling can be broad or focused. Clients may explore: aspects of identity, spirituality, relationships with self and others, past experiences, parenting, grief and loss, trauma, domestic violence, child abuse, use of alcohol and other substances, depression, anxiety, and other experiences.
Changes facilitated by counselling include: change in perspective, new insight, new ways of thinking about situations, new awareness of feelings, enhanced capacity to tolerate and regulate feelings, new actions or behaviours, and new decisions about life.
PACFA registered counsellors have completed an undergraduate or postgraduate counselling qualification. They are expected to participate in ongoing professional development and supervision, including their own counselling, to stay current with developments in their profession and to ensure safe, ethical practice.
* Confidentiality is limited when there are risks to the safety of the client or others.
Psychotherapy is the comprehensive and intentional engagement between therapist and client for the healing, growth or transformation of emotional, physical, relationship, existential and behavioural issues, or of chronic suffering, through well-founded relational processes. The aim of psychotherapy is to support increased awareness and choice, and facilitate the development, maturation, efficacy and well-being of a client.
Psychotherapy involves what is known and what may not be known in personal functioning, usually referred to as “conscious and unconscious factors”. Through a holistic perspective it encompasses the mental, emotional, behavioural, relational, existential and spiritual health of a human being.
A psychotherapist engages with a person or group in a co-created process of deep listening and empathic exploration of experience. Together they may explore social factors that shape an individual’s life experience, behaviours, and values that shape their understanding of who they are in relation to others, and how they create meaning. Aspects of problem solving are integrated into an affective approach that involves deep structural adjustment of the psyche and encompasses the context of the whole person.
Further info relating to psychotherapy and how a psychotherapist works can be found on the PACFA website.
Yes Reed does work with couples. Often couples will seek therapy due to a rupture in the relationship which can include a traumatic event, work-or-family-related issues, transition, infidelity, or a breakdown of intimacy, trust and/or connection.
The therapeutic work undertaken will often involve looking at communication, both positive and negative; individual and relational strengths; boundaries; and trust. Importantly, the work can be very fortifying for the couple and very rewarding for us as the witness to your courage, commitment, and bond.
Coaching
Coaching is a working partnership between coach and client designed to assist the client to clarify their life direction, set goals and actions with the ultimate aim of them becoming who they want to be in line with their values.
The coach asks a range of questions designed to assist the client to gain clarity around what they are currently doing in their life, and allows them to see new opportunities, change in the way they wish, and go in the direction they chose. Coaching is not telling people what to do; it is helping them clarify and control their life.
Julie creates a safe change space and works collaboratively with you to explore the vision you have for all your endeavours, assess where you are in relation to this vision and the story you are telling about your life to date, uncover limitations, discover possibilities for a new story, and implement strategies and practices. All to enable you to live the rich and fulfilling life you have defined and designed for yourself. The sessions are about you, your story – current and emerging, and designed to create transformative experiences to achieve real change.
‘Coaching is a collaborative solution-focused, results-orientated systematic process in which the coach facilitates the enhancement of goal attainment, performance, self-directed learning and personal growth of other individuals.’ – Dr. Anthony Grant, Professor of Coaching Psychology, University of Sydney
Coaching and psychotherapy are person centred approaches to life enhancement. That said, the goals for coaching and psychotherapy are different.
Coaching is present and future focused. It is not remedial, it is generative and a partnership designed to assist a person move towards desired goals, to create the life that they want. Coaching is an equal, synergistic partnership where the coach works collaboratively to increase the amount of choice in the client’s life.
Psychotherapy raises and helps to overcome stressful moments from the past that affect the present. Counselling and therapy is focused on remedying the client’s problems. The client comes to therapy or counselling because they seek relief from psychological distress, seeking to get away from pain or discomfort rather than move towards desired future goals. Therapy and counselling usually seek to understand the past and what went wrong in order to be better in the present.
Creativity encompasses many things – curiosity, passion, imagination, persistence, resilience, engagement, discipline, self-reflection, fun, sharing ideas – and more. It is a place where passion brings imagination to life to inspire and transport us to different environments, different realities, and different relationships with the world around us. Creativity is a part of what it means to be human and engage with the world. The challenge is to balance the many elements necessary to bring your ideas to life.
Coaching assists in this process and Julie works collaboratively to explore the vision you have for your endeavours, assess where you are in relation to this vision, uncover limitations, discover possibilities, implement strategies and practices to bring your creative projects into reality.
‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been.’ – George Eliot
The world of work is rapidly changing, even more so in light of the Covid pandemic. Pre-pandemic statistics saw people have an average of around 12 job changes over a working life. Handling constant change is now a bigger part of a current working life as people undergo seismic changes in career directions and re-assessment of the skills required to compete for available roles.
In Career coaching you work to explore the vision you have for your working life, assess where you are in relation to this vision and your values, unearth the stories you are telling about your work performance and capabilities, uncover limitations, discover possibilities for a new story, and implement strategies and practices. It includes updating your resume to best represent your capabilities, skills and achievements; and enhance your interview skills to assist you land to a new role you want.