What do people want to know about therapy?

I’m new to Substack and I’m currently wondering whether to use it or not. I am a Professor of Counselling Psychology in the UK and have been training therapists for a very long time now. As someone who is interested in the interface between technology and therapy, I’m interested in the way that social media (such as this) might be used by therapists to share ideas (with other therapists or interested others). Having said this, I have no idea what people might actually want to read and so I’m asking anyone one out there,

‘What do others think about the use of Substack to create discussions about therapy related content?’ (Here I am definitely not suggesting discussing direct client work - this, in my mind, should never be done in a forum such as this!!!)

And, crudely

‘What do people want to know about therapy?’

I’m happy to intermittently type away and share what’s in my head about particular topics if it might be of use or interest to anyone. So, with that in mind, do feel free to respond to this article with any thoughts or questions and I’ll see what I can do. My thinking is that I might provide some thoughts about particular therapy related topics, new research or ideas, and maybe therapeutic perspectives of world events. It will, of course, be brilliant 🤩 - the caveat here is that, as with any psychologist or therapist, I have my own favourite theories etc, and thus not everyone will think so. Any opinions therefore come with the health warning that they are only one view point and there will always be many more.

So, what type of therapist am I?

I am a humanistic counselling psychologist - here’s a link to a video of me talking about this sort of stuff. This is quite an optimistic form of therapy (sometimes viewed as a little hippy - hence the good vibes below), which believes that people are all unique, predominantly have the ability to make choices about the direction of their lives, and will constructively grow if the environment is right. I have however written and edited books about all sorts of therapies (like this beast - try not to buy from Amazon if it interests you) and do not believe that we should adopt a one-size-fits all approach to therapy. I’m sure there’s lots more to say here, but I’ll stop there for now.

The end (or beginning)

That’s it. Post one done. It might be the last, but we’ll see. Thoughts are very much welcomed.

Photo by MARK ADRIANE on Unsplash