counselling coaching psychotherapy

Counselling is a talking therapy to address difficult emotions, adverse life events, attachment history as well as mental and physical health issues. As a counsellor Sebastian applies the latest science in counselling psychology. He is certified in evidence-based approaches with the highest levels of safety and success.

Creating a safe place is key to address a client’s issues and challenges. It equips a person with tools, techniques, insights and new perspectives. The counselling process also provides mental strategies and behavioural health for sustainable well-being.

In order to best help you work through your distress Sebastian has trained internationally in a broad range of programs. Therefore he integrates neuroscience, cognitive-behavioural and emotion-focused therapy as well as profoundly researched meta-cognitive and mindfulness-based practices.

Counselling applies when you are feeling … stressed, stuck or depressed, nerveless or irritable anxious, concerned or experience panic angry, short tempered or impatient ready to confide or confess unhappy, unfulfilled or unfaithful facing obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviours rigid or perfectionistic unable to “waste” time leading an unhealthy lifestyle, experiencing unrest or sleep badly

Coaching focuses on the positive or growth aspects of life and work. It enables people to benefit from their full potential and to live life with more zest. The approach uses the strengths and mindset to enhance personal development.

Sebastian’s goal is to support you in achieving greater confidence and improved personal effectiveness. As a result he tailors coaching interventions to your individual needs. Helping you to reclaim control over your direction in life and to proactively advance.

With a strong solution-focus he prioritises your needs whilst acknowledging your responsibilities towards others. This in order to better manage the pressures and challenges you are facing. Taking into account that your life is a fabric of numerous roles, demands and expectations.

Coaching applies when you feel that your … performance needs a sustainable boost, life-balance is at stake, need to refresh your confidence, career needs calibration, priorities are changing in life and at work, lost sight of your values and motivators, lost identity in life and at work or crave calling, purpose, meaning and fulfilment

Psychotherapy or simply “therapy” is a talking therapy based on a strong working alliance between the client and the therapist. Mutual respect, a safe and confidential environment – in face-to-face meetings or online therapy – and an informed process are foundational characteristics.

As a psychologist Sebastian applies several forms of therapy depending on the issue at hand. Oftentimes clients respond well to more formalised and structured approaches like Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT). Other challenges require more “open” interventions like Mindfulness Meditation, Brainspotting and Neurotherapy for example due to traumatic content.

A clinical diagnosis by a GP or psychiatrist may also influence the choice of psychotherapy, for example for mood disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, sleep disorder, recovery from illness or after surgery and stress due to other major adjustments in life. Clinical psychologists often provide assessments. Clinical psychology generally treats and researches along diagnostic and statistical disorders.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is the psychotherapy and counselling with the most solid and wide evidence base for efficacy and effectiveness. Today’s CBT was strongly influenced by Behaviour Therapy (1950s & 60s) and Cognitive Therapy (1960s & 70s). Behaviourists focus on the learning connection between stimuli and responses. The cognitive model in therapy and counselling emphasises mental processes.

The cognitive model explores thoughts, beliefs and interpretations which influence our specifically individual responses. Areas of interest for CBT counsellors and psychotherapists are cognition, emotion, behaviour and physiology which form an interacting system.

CBT’s general focus lies on stressful states such as depression, anxiety phobias and anger which are often perpetuated or exacerbated by biased ways of thinking. Negative Automatic Thoughts and Core Beliefs is examined in their meaning and tested against “reality”.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a metacognitive approach which emphasises that all thoughts are first and foremost mental events. It uses mindfulness to become aware of what goes on in our minds and bodies. The target is to build our mental muscles called “attention” and “awareness”.

ACT training and therapy regulates difficulty, discomfort and distress in the way we relate to our negative experience. A goal of this therapy is to help clients to cope with interfering thoughts and emotions. Well-Being is promoted through changing and persisting of behaviour in order to achieve and maintain valued living.

Similar methods and concepts are found in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB), which Sebastian uses as a counsellor and psychologist, helping clients to gain presence and mental strength.

Schemas are unhelpful conceptual patterns in our thinking, feeling and behaviour that we typically acquired through experiences in life, like upbringing and traumatic events. A person for example, who’s father divorced the mother and left the family at an early age, might have developed an abandonment schema. As result, the person internalises unhelpful beliefs like “people you love and need, will leave you”.

Because of the negative influence schemas can have of everyday life, relationships and work performance they are also called life-traps. 18 of these traps have been identified and are expressed on a scale or dimension. So the question is less if you are affected by a schema, but more how much are you affected by it.

This non-invasive form of therapy treats performance blockages and psychological trauma. Brainspotting (BSP) is safe and does not require the client to share or speak about their experience or any memories. Similar to EMDR this method applies bilateral stimulation of both brain hemispheres.

Based on the finding that “where we look, is how we feel” BSP aims at locating individual “brainspots”. Therefore the therapist or counsellor guides the client to use the brainspots. Processing happens on a deeper level than talk therapy as it involves the limbic system and the anterior cingulate cortex.

Talk therapy often relies heavily on reasoning and sense-making which might get in the way of accessing and processing learned but maladaptive protection and survival patterns. With the BSP approach non-verbal ways of healing become available.

The vagus nerve relates to our capacity to function as social beings through maintaining our emotional regulation, fear response and social connections. We all constantly cycle through stages of disconnection, mobilisation and social engagement.

This part of the autonomic nervous system connects the brain with the heart and other major organs and runs on autopilot without requiring intervention. The ANS regulates our heartbeat, breathing and other autonomous body functions such as digestion, body temperature and sexual arousal.

Stress responses are essential for our survival, but need to be tamed to enable social engagement and well-being. Our Autonomic Nervous System adapts protection and connection from moment to moment. These patterns of protection can compromise our social engagement system.

A bundle of nerves to rule them all: Unpacking the vagus nerve.

When looking into yourself from a coaching perspective, you want to know how you perform on a regular basis and how other people would typically perceive you on a day to day basis.

Sebastian recommends that you use the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) to assess exactly that. It describes normal, or bright-side personality – qualities that describe how we relate to others when we are at our best.

Whether your goal is to develop as a stronger leader or to find out about your reputation, assessing normal personality gives you valuable insight into you work, how you lead, and how successful you will be.

In order to get a better understanding of the risks in your behaviour, Sebastian suggests that you conduct the Hogan Development Survey (HDS).

The HDS describes the “dark side” of personality – qualities that emerge in times of increased strain and can disrupt relationships, damage reputations, and derail peoples’ chances of success.

By assessing dark-side personality, you can recognise and mitigate performance risks before they become a problem.

At the core of all valued living and exceptional performance lies a profound understanding of your motives and preferences. Sebastian thinks that it is as key to his clients as it is to himself, to have deep knowledge of the roots of your being.

Therefore the Hogan Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) is his inventory of choice. It describes personality from the inside – the core goals, values, drivers, and interests that determine what we desire and strive to attain.

By assessing values, you can understand what motivates you and others to succeed, and in what type of position, job, and environment you will be the most productive.