Confrontation is hard … but it is the quality of the ‘repair process’ that really matters

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Confrontation is hard … but it is the quality of the ‘repair process’ that really matters

Last night we had a bust up in our kitchen.  As I was putting a younger child to bed, I could hear our adolescent children arguing over whose turn it was to wash up.  

They are older now, the voices are louder and more powerful.  

Arguing can be both frightening and exhausting to be around.

For me, arguing triggers me back to my childhood.  

In my childhood experience, my father often argued, particularly when someone disagreed with him.

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7 mindful steps to finding the right therapist for you

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
7 mindful steps to finding the right therapist for you

Deciding to work with a therapist is often a big decision ... 

And then once the decision has made to seek help, it can be a daunting task to find a therapist that is right for you.

In this article, we identify seven steps to help you find the therapist that is more likely to meet your needs.

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Mothers teach us how to be ...

/ The Grove Counselling/
Mothers teach us how to be ...

Thinking of the generations of mothers... past, present and future... on this mother's day ....

buttered toast and clothes warmed by the fire on a winter’s morning

the pain of adolescence felt

the posy of flowers at my bedside as I nurse a broken heart

long distance phone calls to share news of adventures

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How we impact others ...

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
How we impact others ...

This weekend past, it was my school reunion.  Now whilst that might not seem like anything significant, quite a few decades on, there was a lot to reflect on. 

You see I was a boarder sent to a city school from the country at 12 years old.  Only getting to go home on the holidays or the occasional long weekend, I essentially grew up at high school.  At the reunion I met up again with the people that had grown me up – my fellow students.

Reflecting on the stories shared on the night, I realize now the huge impact we all had upon one another.  

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Who is your teacher…?

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Who is your teacher…?

All my life I have lived surrounded by beautiful gardens.  As a child the garden was a place of escape into wonder and make believe.  As I grew older the garden became a place of family working bees - arguing with my siblings and protesting with my parents as we raked leaves, watered the garden beds and mowed the lawns .  As a young adult home from university, the garden grew into a place where I could talk with my mother about the questions of life, as I helped her toil away in the vegie patch or prune the roses.

The garden grew and transformed, as I grew and transformed.

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Community ... we all need it.

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Community ... we all need it.

Last night I had the privilege of connecting with a group of people whom I journeyed through university with.  It had been a long time since we had all seen each other.  Yet the conversation flowed and the peels of laughter echoed as we shared stories of our life together as students, as well as the life that has become for us each since those days of endless study and personal reflection.

A seemingly random group of people, all from such different worlds, yet all so touched by the humanness of experience…this was a gathering of therapists.

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Group Therapy - an invitation to meet life

/ The Grove Counselling & Therapy/
Group Therapy - an invitation to meet life

Group therapy is the most amazing experience

Whilst I learn a lot about myself in individual therapy

And explore the possibility of alternate ways of being

It is in group therapy that this learning is magnified and my way of being is most actively transformed

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