Rate Dahlia Raz

As an integrative arts psychotherapeutic counsellor I have witnessed first hand the value of the arts as a tool for developing awareness. The arts express themselves in a variety of forms - visual, auditory, kinaesthetic. My focus is with the visual arts as well as with movement and bodywork. The body allows us to observe emotions and sensations in the here and now, without judgment. This is where mindfulness and bodywork intersect. When we start working mindfully with our bodies, we start to let go of emotional tension and attachments that no longer serve us. At times, simply paying attention to the flow of energy in the body can bring about significant insights and changes.

Using everyday language can limit our communication of powerful and profound feelings, dampening down our full emotional experience. This can result in bottling up feelings or acting them out which can be highly destructive to self or others. In my role I will facilitate the creative working through of emotional pain, within a safe and supportive environment.

Being an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor means that I can use different approaches to best meet the particular needs of the client. I draw upon frameworks and concepts from Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy, Attachment Theory, Psychoanalysis, and Self Psychology. Each client I see guides my interventions and ways of thinking depending on what issues may arise. Most recently, in London, I have worked at a substance misuse service, an eating disorder clinic, and a mental health charity. I have also worked abroad as a therapist and group facilitator at a mindfulness recovery retreat centre.