The Listening to Life counselling model is about helping clients to develop a new perspective on their lives, and on “Life” in general.
At the heart of the Listening to Life model for Individual Counselling is a guiding map that describes and explains the cycle of recurring experiences that all people, regardless of their life circumstances, appear to undergo.
Have you ever felt an uncanny sense of déjà vu when yet another similar life event happens to you? Have you ever found yourself saying things like, “why does this always happen to me?”, or “I feel like I’m going around in circles”, or “oh no, not again!”?
In the initial 1.5 hour session with Robin, as part of the standard assessment process, clients begin to identify Core Themes that have repeated, and that continue to repeat, in their lives.
The Listening to Life guiding map through these cycles is then introduced, along with the names and descriptions of a very specific set of stages that recur throughout people’s lives.
Thereafter, the process of counselling entails Robin and the client together extracting specific forms of guidance based on the content and events of their current life circumstances, to help them address the difficulties they are struggling with.
Home tasks or activities are often assigned.
When the Listening to Life process is consistently applied, clients learn to listen to the guidance that is already present in their own lives rather than trying to avoid or eliminate the unwanted components thereof, and rather than seeking “external expert guidance” to “tell them what to do”.
In so doing, clients begin to develop a wiser understanding of, and a deeper sense of purpose in their lives.
Learning this process empowers clients to take increasingly greater control of their unique life circumstances. People are then far less likely to remain stuck in feelings of helplessness or hopelessness and instead they begin to experience greater levels of contentment, satisfaction and overall well-being.
This counselling approach differs markedly from that of the dominant Medical Model that sees symptoms themselves as the problem, to be eliminated or eradicated using a range of strategies or techniques.
The Listening to Life approach instead considers symptoms as “personally tailored signs” that provide unique information to each individual as how best to address the life challenges they currently face.
As clients learn to listen and constructively respond to their own “life signs”, so do their “presenting symptoms”, almost always, decrease in frequency, intensity and duration.
A number of more recent models of psychotherapy (eg. the empirically supported Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) similarly maintain that it is the very attempt to eradicate our so-called symptoms that causes us far more pain and suffering.
Please note:
It is not only the content of the counselling that is different in this approach, but also the structure, as the Listening to Life model uses a short-term psychotherapy approach.
By the end of the first session, a new client will usually have a good sense of whether this model might work for them, and also whether there is, or is not, a good “therapeutic fit” between them and Robin.
If thereafter a new client wishes to continue consulting with Robin, it is strongly recommended that subsequent sessions are booked in blocks of 3. In part, this is because without a commitment to fully engage in the psychotherapeutic process, clients are unlikely to benefit much.
After an approximately 10 sessions covering the basics of this approach to Life, the initial counselling is considered complete. Clients are then usually encouraged to spend their energy, time (and money!) on applying their new learnings in their lives – rather than continuing to attend additional sessions simply to “debrief” or to “vent” about their daily or weekly life happenings.
After a subsequent break from counselling and with an intervening period of time in which they apply their new learnings to their lives, clients are welcome to return for additional “top-up” sessions. These subsequent sessions aim to help reinforce what clients have already learned, rather than to introduce fundamentally different concepts.
Subsequent sessions should preferably also be booked in sets of 3.
Listening to Life is not a crisis-counselling model for clients to attend sessions primarily, or only, when they were experiencing an acute crisis in their lives.
Likewise, intermittent, randomly-booked appointments are mostly not very effective nor helpful.
Additional session details, as well as costs, can be found on the Session Details & Fees link on this site.
Listening to Life 