Melbourne Business Mentoring, Coach mentoring, Professional Mentoring for Women, Psychologist

PROFESSIONAL COACHING & SUPERVISION FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS, COUNSELLORS, HYPNOTHERAPISTS

COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY, BODY-ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY & HYPNOTHERAPY RESEARCH ARTICLES

Facilitating Significant Therapeutic Change

Interventions for Candida and Food Intolerance

Significant Lasting Positive Personal Change

Professional Supervision for Life Coaches, Psychologists, Counsellors, Hypnotherapists, Gestalt Therapists, Transpersonal Psychotherapists, Somatic Psychotherapists and Couple Counsellors

Linda is an approved supervisor for the Australlian Psychological Society College of Counselling Psychologists and the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists and supervises psychologists for state registration. She has provided mentoring and supervision not only for psychologists, social workers , hypnotherapists and professional counsellors, but also for life coaches and any other helper or therapist whose work includes a counselling component. She is especially interested in the training and supervision of couple counsellors using a method she developed for quickly resolving relationship issues (See Professional Articles below).

Her supervision style evolved out of her study of international 'exceptional helpers' aimed at discovering how mentors and therapists could become more effective. Her research outcomes reinforced the importance of the mentor/therapist's personal development. They also provided support for experiential ways of training and supervision including the use of vicarious experience, 'contagious proximity' and the development of intuitive knowing.

Linda also provides training in a body-oriented approach to psychotherapy which can be viewed as a more widely-applied extension of the successful cognitive-behavioural therapy 'exposure' technique. It involves hypnotherapy and somatic methods similar to elements of Rolfing, Reichian work, Bioenergetics, Gestalt bodywork, and Holotropic Breathwork. It is especially suitable for dealing with pre-verbal issues, trauma, and matters which do not respond to counselling. It will also appeal to those wanting an experiential approach or a way to deal with couples who do not respond well to traditional relationship therapy approaches.

Linda also provides training in empowering emotional intelligence training techniques which can be used in life coaching or stress management programs.

The fastest most effective way to acquire and hone new skills is to find someone who is extremely good at what you wish to learn and enter into a personal mentoring/coaching/apprenticeship relationship with them. Linda discovered this when, during her doctoral research at Monash University, she undertook to learn from the most effective helpers she could find anywhere in the world. Not only did this lead to her personal and professional transformation, but also to rapid development of a very busy and profitable private practice (See the article "Being Exceptionally Helped" published by Self & Society and reproduced below with their permission).

While personal mentoring is usually but not always more expensive per hour than lectures, seminars and workshops, its relatively high effectiveness means you spend much less time in training and possibly less in total financial outlay. In addition, because fulltime trainers, especially university lecturers, spend almost all their time training and very little time actually practising what they teach, they are rarely the best therapists from whom to learn practical skills. Thus it is not surprising that most therapists consider that they learned more effectively from their supervised practice than from their formal training.

The services offered by Dr. Linda Edwards are suited to people who are seeking to develop a high degree of professional success and competence rather than a recognized qualification. Thus your priorities will be important in deciding whether this is the best training option for you.

This personalized mentoring program involves (1) assisting you to effectively market yourself to attract the type of client who will benefit most from your services, (2) assisting you to reach your optimum potential in the style of therapy, mentoring, coaching or counselling which suits you if you have not already done so, and (3) assisting you to deal with any obstacles that prevent the rapid development of your practice through emotional intelligence training and life skills coaching.

This personalized mentoring program will suit a wide range of professionals ranging from those with experience in individual counselling who would like to develop their skills in working with couples to those who are already working with couples who would like to strengthen those skills or move into the field of relationships enrichment coaching. It is an opportunity to understand and develop experiential skills which have evolved from the work of Rogers, Perls, Reich, and Grof as well as transpersonal psychology, hypnotherapy and somatic psychotherapy and which can quickly take couples very deep and produce rapid resolution of issues. Using the theoretical underpinnings of Imago Relationship Therapy as a basis, you will be assisted to employ emotional intelligence training and life skills coaching techniques to work with people who do not respond well to the approaches of either Imago Therapy or the interventions of more traditional couples therapies.

Supervision for A.P.S. College of Counselling Psychologists, the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists and Other Professional Organizations

Any mentoring or supervision program undertaken with Dr Linda Edwards can be used in order to fulfill supervision requirements for membership of the Australian Psychological Society College of Counselling Psychologists or to accumulate professional development points in order to retain existing membership. Likewise those requiring supervision to gain or retain membership of the Australian Society of Clinical Hypnotherapists can use supervision or mentoring with Linda toward that end. Because Linda is a highly qualified and experienced registered psychologist in fulltime private practice, it is likely that approval can be obtained for her supervision to be counted towards the requirements of a number of other professional therapy organizations.

This is suitable for a wide range of professionals ranging from those with experience in individual counselling who would like to develop their skills in working with couples to those who are already working with couples who would like to strengthen those skills or move into the field of relationships enrichment coaching. The supervision style will suit those who are keen to use experiential approaches which have evolved from the work of Rogers, Perls, Reich, and Grof as well as transpersonal psychology, hypnotherapy and somatic psychotherapy and which can quickly take people very deep and produce rapid resolution of issues.

This is suitable for people who have studied and practised Rogerian person-centred therapy, Gestalt therapy, any somatic psychotherapies, transpersonal psychotherapies including Grof's Holotropic Breathwork, hypnotherapy or advanced cognitive behavioural therapies. It will also suit professionals who have not studied these therapies but would like to develop competence in those areas. In particular there will be an opportunity to be trained in somatic hypnotherapy and a somatic extension of cognitive behavioural therapy.

Group trainings can be arranged. Organizers attend trainings for a reduced fee. If you are interested in this option, call Dr Linda Edwards on 9880 7432.

To investigate training or supervision with Dr. Linda Edwards, the next step is to call her secretary Joy on 9836 8629 and make a single supervision appointment to see Linda. If during that session, you decide that Linda is the right person to facilitate your professional development at this time, you will be offered the option to book and pay for five sessions in advance at our reduced training rate or you may continue to pay the standard fee on a session by session basis. Depending on location, there is the possibility for some trainees to be provided with fee-paying clients.

If you would like more information about Linda, click on the "About Linda" button on the top left side of this page.

Edwards, Linda A. (2004). Reading accounts of a therapist's experiences with "exceptional helpers": Useful form of counsellor training? Australian Journal of Counselling Psychology, 5(1), 18-28

Seven experienced counselling psychologists and professional counsellors self-assessed the value to them in reading blow-by-blow descriptions of the personal and professional development experiences that arose from a colleague's (the author's) involvement with fourteen "exceptional" helpers. They reported that the reading material evoked feelings (confirmation, validation, peace, serenity, confidence, reassurance, hope, catharsis, challenge, inspiration, motivation and determination to change, develop or be different) and new understanding (recognitiion of self, insight, information). Three cases of profound impact on personal/or professional development are described. Findings are discussed with reference to the bibliotherapy literature and further research is recomended to confirm the benefits in using therapists' autobiographical writings to provide relevant vicarious experience in the training and professional development of counselling psychologists and other counsellors. Download

Edwards, L. A. (2002). Body-oriented Hypnotherapy: Releasing Preverbal Trauma. The Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis, 23 (1), 31-44

Somatic hypnotherapy, which is based on sound principles about emotions and trauma from the fields of psychology, hypnotherapy and various somatic psychotherapies, can be extremely effective in healing trauma and issues with preverbal roots and working with clients who cannot verbalize their feelings or do not want to tell their stories. This article provides a theoretical understanding of how somatic hypnotherapy works, evidence for it's effectiveness, instructions on how it is done, and contraindications for its use. Download

Edwards, L. A. (2002). Being exceptionally helped: Implications for therapist training. Self and Society: A Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 30 (3), 24-36

Between 1997 and 2000 Linda experienced a personal and professional transformation while interviewing 14 internationally-selected 'exceptional helpers' for the purpose of discovering how counselling psychologist could become more effective. The challenge was to convincingly document that personal and private outcome, make sense of how it happened, and respond to the implications for therapist training. Download

Edwards, L. A. (2001). How does helping happen? A transpersonal holistic and experiential discovery-oriented approach to counselling psychology and psychotherapy research. Unpublished Ph.D., Monash University, Melbourne.

Despite increasing social pressures to improve counselling psychology effectiveness, formidable obstacles remain. The psychotherapy process is not well understood. Nor is it clear what constitutes significant therapeutic change or a good outcome. Further, methodologists have argued that traditional science is not useful for dealing with such issues. Consequently this study investigated how effective helping happens from a new science paradigm perspective involving intuitively-directed research using experiential procedures within a discovery-oriented qualitative approach. Initial data collection involved interviewing fourteen internationally-selected 'exceptional' therapists or 'expert/good examples' of effective helping. This commenced without guidance of an a priori conceptual framework but with trust that an immersion procedure like Moustakas' heuristic inquiry would lead to whatever was needed. Through passionate involvement in learning about effective helping by following whatever hunches seemed to further that aim, I gained trust in the usefulness of my developing intuitive knowing skills. Assumptions, methods and outcomes constantly informed each other in a non-linear emergent design. The experience of meaningfulness was pursued at every step: in deciding which people to interview; in managing/focusing dialogues with 'experts'; in selecting what grabbed my attention during the analysis; and in creation of new procedures to enhance discovery. Interviews were unstructured and mostly face-to-face. They were audio-taped, transcribed, and analysed by reporting what 'felt' noteworthy. This led to documentation of transformational changes in myself as well as changes in my research approach and my perspective on helping. After verification by the 'experts', seven practitioners provided feedback on the personal and professional impacts of reading the analyses. Outcomes were useful impacts. Impacts on my development personally and professionally have been made publicly available by selecting quotes from attitude-revealing stories in diaries spanning two decades. Quotations from counselling psychologists indicated they experienced similar but lesser beneficial impacts from reading 'exceptional' helper reports. Finally, student teaching evaluations showed counselling students believed they learned much from interaction with examples of 'good' counsellors. My story of how the 'exceptional' helpers inadvertently helped me, creative syntheses of stories about helping told by the 'experts', and 'academic stories' from the psychotherapy literature are provided to enrich understanding of significant therapeutic change and effective helping. In conclusion, the procedure of intuitively seeking out, interviewing and/or engaging with the subjectively determined best helpers available can facilitate significant personal and professional change. Further, ineffable practical learning can accrue to therapists who provide feedback on the impact of reading experiential accounts of those who followed such procedures. This has been discussed in developmental terms using Grof's Basic Perinatal Matrices, Campbell's Hero's Journey and the wisdom literature Criteria for good new paradigm science were used to evaluate the study and make suggestions for improvements. Future investigations could look at whether counselling psychology students can be more effectively trained by requiring them to repeat my procedures. Finally, this study suggests that intuitively-directed research can be a highly effective approach to human inquiry and counselling psychology research in particular. This meta-research implication needs further investigation.

Edwards, L. A. (1999). Use of hypnosis and non-ordinary states of consciousness in facilitating significant psychotherapeutic change. The Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis, 20 (2), 86-107

Hypnosis is only one of a number of ways of inducing non ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC) which facilitate significant therapeutic change. This article focuses on self-hypnosis, meditation, guided imagery and therapeutic touch. It also considers progressive muscle relaxation, background music and breathing techniques and the value of integrating them into self-hypnosis inductions. Types of meditation are described together with their use in psychotherapy and counselling. Finally, therapeutic touch and similar approaches such as energy healing, spiritual healing, and Reiki are discussed in relation to evidence, theoretical framework and method. However therapists are reminded that the use of approaches which can be powerful catalysts for physical and emotional transformation, does not guarantee a good outcome. To meet the unique needs of each client, it is necessary to use these approaches as an intuitive artist rather than as a methodical technician. Download

Edwards, L. A. (1999). Self-Hypnosis and Psychological Interventions for Symptoms Attributed to Candida and Food Intolerance. The Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Hypnosis, 20 (1), 1-12

Chronic Candida syndrome diagnosis and treatment is controversial. Many people with debilitating symptoms commonly attributed to this condition are ineffectively treated. Given these difficulties and the mounting evidence for mind-body healing, non-medical approaches need to be investigated. This case report covers the history, treatment plan, administration and outcome of hypnotherapy and psychological interventions (meditation, guided imagery, music therapy, neuro-linguistic-programming, breath-control, thought distraction, unconditional acceptance, Ericksonian metaphors, cognitive challenging of the idealized self-image, assertiveness training, inner-child work, and Gestalt therapy) for a client diagnosed with Candida albicans overgrowth who was not responding to medical treatment. The successful outcome is attributed not just to the techniques used, but also to the linking of symptoms to their underlying psychological causes and working with those issues. Download

Edwards, L. A. (1997). Ingredients of psychotherapeutic change revisited: Telephone interviews with strangers. Australian Journal of Psychology, 49 (Supplement. Combined Abstracts of 1997 Australian Psychology conferences), 96.

Qualitative studies are needed to discover the ingredients responsible for psychotherapeutic change. This study investigated the experience of individuals who said they had changed in a significant lasting positive way regardless of whether it happened in the context of therapy. Twelve volunteers participated in unstructured telephone interviews which were tape-recorded and transcribed for analysis following an heuristic inquiry approach. It was found to be both possible and profitable to collect highly sensitive material on significant change by means of telephone interviews with strangers. Participants reported phenomena consistent with the results of the Hanna & Ritchie (1995) face-to-face interviews with intimately known participants who were asked to indicate which of the constructs distilled from the literature were necessary and sufficient conditions for their own significant second-order change. Comparison of the results of these two studies with change research summaries suggests that the magnitude of change may be affected by willingness to confront painful feelings. Further, the absence of limiting assumptions in the data collection and analysis in this study permitted discovery of two additional phenomena which might facilitate significant change: (1) the questioning of values and the meaning of life, and (2) transpersonal aspects.

Edwards, L. A. (1996). Significant lasting positive personal change: Within and outside the context of therapy. Unpublished minor thesis, Monash University, Churchill, Australia.

The amazing diversity of theories and the apparent contradictions in forty years of quantitative change research has left psychotherapists unclear how best to facilitate desirable outcomes and increase the efficacy of therapy. It is now recognized that qualitative studies are needed to discover which constructs are truly most important and to learn enough about them for highly effective quantitative studies to be possible. It is argued here that there is much to be learned by collecting retrospective autobiographies from those who have experienced significant beneficial change regardless of whether it happened within or outside the context of therapy. For this purpose, twelve individuals participated in unstructured telephone interviews, which were tape-recorded and transcribed for analysis following an heuristic inquiry approach. It was found to be both possible and profitable to collect highly sensitive material by means of telephone interviews with strangers, and the resulting composite description of significant change provided a new perspective from which the apparently contradictory findings and theories of change made sense. The findings were also interpreted within a developmental framework which included the transpersonal dimension of the psyche.

Copyright Dr Linda Edwards 2001-2006, Art of Living Psychology, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia. (Consulting Rooms are in Melbourne in the Camberwell, Surrey Hills, Burwood and Canterbury region, also serving Ashburton, Balwyn, Box Hill, Glen Iris, Hawthorn, Kew and Malvern).