How can counselling or psychotherapy help?


Counselling and psychotherapy are forms of talk therapy. Therapy involves a unique relationship where the therapist is there solely to help you with the difficulty that is bringing you to therapy. You may, for instance, want to develop a more fulfilled sense of your life, need extra support through a separation or death, or long to transform the ways in which you are feeling hurt, afraid, or lonely. Seeing a therapist can help you with a huge range of life's challenges. 
Therapy is more than just sitting in a room talking about yourself, or about your past. Its a dynamic process where your therapist will help you to see and transform patterns that are self-limiting. 
You will get to know yourself better and develop healthier ways to think, feel and behave so that you can go about your life feeling better. Therapy is not about becoming dependent, its about becoming freer and more fulfilled.
We offer a range of therapy styles depending on what you're seeking from therapy. Primarily therapists at Lucid Psychotherapy and Counselling practise ISTDP (Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy), and mindfulness based psychotherapies (including DBT.)
"In therapy we help people, through moment to moment awareness in the session, to notice what's happening right now that contributes to their presenting problems. By identifying these patterns, being curious about them and starting to see how they no longer serve them, profound and lasting transformation occurs in real time."

Mindfulness for stress and anxiety

Stress and anxiety can be very debilitating, making it hard for us to enjoy the good things in our lives.  Our busy modern lifestyles can load us up with a list of "shoulds" and worries about the future - to the point that dealing with our stress and anxiety is just another thing on our endless to-do list. Mindfulness isn’t another task on the list. It sounds really simple - be present, right here, right now. Being more mindful is a proven, effective way to help reduce stress and anxiety.
Why see one of us for stress / anxiety?
If reading about mindfulness in a book was enough to deal with your pain, you probably wouldn’t be looking at this site now.  With our experience and training in psychotherapy and mindfulness, along with our personal experiences of stress and anxiety, we can help you to find the calm and balance you are searching for. Alternatively, if you're looking to develop your mindfulness practice even further we offer mindfulness mentoring with Di Robertson, a Southern Insight meditation teacher with over 20 years experience. 
The style of therapy that we offer helps to get to the cause of the depression so that you can feel better - and keep feeling better.

Counselling and Psychotherapy for Depression

Most of us feel crappy and miserable every now and again, sometimes we might even say that we're depressed to describe a tough week at work, or how bad we're feeling after a relationship break-up. Feeling down or hopeless when life is difficult is fairly normal, often once we've made it through the difficult situation we start feeling more like ourselves again. It's when we don't return to feeling okay and the feelings of unhappiness persist - even after the difficult situation is over - that its likely that we have depression.
​Research shows that talk therapy offers the most long lasting benefits for effective depression treatment. Seeing a therapist will help you to reconnect with feelings that have become inaccessible in the depressed numbness, re-establish important relationships or grieve the loss of relationships, and find new ways to move forward so you can live an engaged and meaningful life. 

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

DBT could help you if you’re a person who has painful emotions that may feel overwhelming or impossible to manage in a healthy ways.  You may have tried other styles of therapy or different counsellors and ended up feeling overwhelmed, or that you didn't learn the best skills for finding your emotional balance.  

Some people who particularly tend to benefit from DBT are those who have been diagnosed with (the terribly named) borderline personality disorder (BPD). DBT is the form of therapy with the strongest evidence for effectively helping people with this diagnosis. 
DBT has also been shown to be highly effective in helping people with a wide range of difficulties, including long standing depression, severe anxiety or dissociation, trauma, and addictions. 
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DBT is based on mindfulness practices. As long time practitioners of mindfulness and meditation we personally know what it’s like to make the journey towards having a more aware and non-judgemental mind. Book online or contact us to arrange a session with Michael or Selina.

Ecotherapy

Ecotherapy gets nature and the natural world involved in the healing process – sometimes through doing therapy outdoors.  If you’re looking for therapy, and know that you’re a person who values and connects with nature, then it could be a good fit for you.  Ecotherapy may also be for you if you’re working in any way with environmental issues, and want to work with the personal impact of these issues on you, or to become more effective in your environmental or sustainability work.
Why see one of us for ecotherapy? 
We have researched and written on ecotherapy, and conducted ecotherapy workshops and trainings in New Zealand, the United States, and Australia.  Nature has been a significant part of each of our personal journeys, and we are committed to helping others to find their own connections with the natural world. 

As psychotherapists and counsellors who are deeply concerned about the impact of environmental issues such as climate change, we offer reduced rates for those who are active in environmental work.
Lucid Psychotherapy and Counselling, Christchurch provides affordable and effective individual psychotherapy, counselling, ISTDP, ecotherapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), and mindfulness for stress, panic and anxiety disorders, servicing the area of Christchurch, New Zealand. Book your therapy session via online bookings. Skype (online video) appointments are available only with Michael Apathy.

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If there are no bookable services showing via the online booking website, this means we currently have a waiting list for new clients. Please give us a call or email if you would like to add your name.
Lucid Psychotherapy and Counselling, Christchurch provides affordable and effective individual psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling, Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), ecotherapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), mindfulness for stress, panic and anxiety disorders, and mindfulness mentoring, servicing the area of Christchurch, New Zealand. We also offer online video therapy sessions. Lucid's counsellors and psychotherapists are experienced and qualified practitioners.
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