Cornel Verwey  •  Clinical Psychologist

Psychotherapy

Therapy can be a healing process, a support in times of distress, but also a process of personal growth. At the basis of psychotherapy is the professional helping relationship between therapist and client. This relationship is referred to as the ‘therapeutic alliance’, the quality of which can often be a predictor of success in therapy. Therapy can be an active collaboration between therapist and client. This works best in an environment that is open, accepting and non-judgemental. Psychotherapy involves creating a space in which the client feels safe enough to address difficult questions or to deal with difficult past experiences.

My approach is broadly psychodynamic. Psychodynamic psychotherapy focuses on the internal world of the client and believes that current behaviours, attitudes and beliefs (and the difficulties that can arise from these) are often a result of earlier formative experiences. As a result, therapy is aimed at understanding current experiences in light of past experiences. Psychodynamic therapy also aims at insight into the reasons behind difficulties, since insight offers the possibility of change.

I often work with individuals to improve the quality of their relationships. However, couples therapy is a specialised field and unfortunately I don’t offer that service.

On a practical level, sessions are usually 60 minutes long and generally occur once a week. Therapy often starts with an initial phase where client and therapist look at what the difficulties are and how they can best spend their session time. The therapist would also gather background information from the client. The therapeutic phase follows and this is where therapist and client work towards the agreed goals. Psychotherapy can also be an open-ended process when therapeutic goals are hard to define.

Please see the FAQ page for more information on the process of psychotherapy.