Move forward into love and comfort. Move forward into joy and belonging.
Experience a deeper commitment to your life worth living!

If you are struggling in your life, overwhelmed with worry and carrying a mental load that gets heavier by the day, you need to relieve the burden of you!  And move forward into a greater place of comfort, in your body, in your mind!

Imagine for a tiny moment what your life would look like if you felt a spaciousness in your heart, a lightness in your head and unburdened by a thousand thoughts buzzing in a crowded mind. Imagine your future being a joyful one of friends and family, adventure and achievements. Imagine feeling connected to your whole sense of self, and an excitement to your journey!

Explore and find out with a programme that gives you the blueprint to finding your way again. A step-by-step pathway with a therapist that is focussed on you changing and moving forward into your life, with confidence, self-trust, courage, commitment and joy.

Mind therapy is generally a ‘talking therapy, such as counselling, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy and others; to therapeutically support a client in discomfort, and to elicit a change and improvement in their health and well-being. Holistic therapy is also a talking therapy approach, yet more broad and flexible in its interpretative view; and regards the person as unique in their own particular makeup, therefore therapy should match that person’s uniqueness and needs, rather than fitting the person into a particular model of therapy.

Holistic therapy is likely to be an eclectic mix of therapeutic approaches, person-centred counselling and psycho-education.

pHOTO OF cLAIRE cLEAVER

Claire Cleaver

Contact Us to find out how we can help you. Schedule an appointment Gift Certificates available. Health Fund rebates are available depending on your level of cover. Process your HICAPS  claim on the spot and we accept payment by cash, eftpos, credit card and online transfers. Testimonials to check out what our other clients say! The Healing Practice 129b Balmain Rd Leichhardt, Sydney NSW 2040 M: 0438 216 351

How to live with more Joy and Happiness

Joy is often a displaced emotion that most of us struggle to remember what it feels like. Joy – fleeting and momentary are the snapshot moments that remind us how wonderful, inspiring and heartfelt life can be. Joy is the highlight or rather a peak moment of happiness, that we all strive to obtain. Yet the more we strive for it, the more elusive it becomes! Happiness and joy are natural states of being that evolve out of being ‘present’ in our lives, and are available to experience those moments when they happen. They can’t be manufactured or crafted from buying new clothes or getting new things or going to new places. Certainly there will be satisfaction or excitement or whatever other feeling that comes up, but happiness and joy are transitory emotions that elicit the flavour of our present mood state.

Lack of Joy and Happiness is Detrimental

Not enough joy and happiness in our everyday lives has a detrimental impact on our general health and wellbeing. That would be an undisputed fact. It’s also no surprise that there have been frequent and ongoing studies on measuring the happiness factor in human populations, and ongoing conferences and the like for various practitioners focussing on ‘how to build happiness, etc’, in the communities they serve, and there’s more awareness and active promotion of Mindfulness, as the latest approach / technique to also increase the happy factor.

It is true that happy populations work and produce more satisfactorily than unhappy and restricted ones, and it makes economic sense to promote it. Apart from that, humans engage in human activity more satisfactorily, when their reward is enhanced by feelings of happiness by being with others.  We are socialised to be with others, to want others to like us and to want a sense of belonging with like-minded others. It happens right from the start when we are born into a family, go to school, make friends, higher education, make friends, and into the work force, make friends, join groups, make friends, get married or partner up, make friends, have babies, make friends; and the cycle starts all over again!

 

For instance – “I feel happy because I went to the Gym today”.

– So my mood state is one of satisfaction eliciting a feeling of extra happiness.

Or another example: “I enjoyed my coffee today without rushing”.

I introduced a sense of slowing down, taking care of my needs to not rush and elicited a top-note of extra happiness.  

Or your happiness might be measured by seeing friends. For instance: “I had lunch with a friend today, visiting from Melbourne, and I took the day off to make it happen, and we went to this amazing place by the water with a great view, and the day was sunny”.

Many reasons there to build happiness. Essentially, there is delight in seeing the friend, expectation of a good outing together, anticipation of a pleasant lunch by the water and a good view, eliciting an expectation of feeling very happy with all of those things present. 

 

Modern Stress is Debilitating

Unfortunately for most of us, our modern lives today are more complex, busy and complicated in ways that our ancestors never experienced, contributing to make anxiety and stress commonplace and a serious and growing health issue, particularly in the western world, to the extent it is about to topple heart disease as the leading ailment by 2020. Anxiety, stress and its worse bedfellow, depression can make our lives difficult, degraded and create a shadow under which we live.

Intervene, if you have any concerns about your mental and physical health, and consider a therapy that is both constructive and engaging and can actively assist, to shake off the shadow of anxiety and stress, so you can rediscover being a whole person again, who gets to experience joy, challenge, and sadness in equal measure without putting a constraining order upon yourself.

“Claire has been my holistic therapist for a number of years. My sessions with Claire are a part of my general health and wellness regime. She has introduced me to hypnosis, NLP and life coaching through our sessions. I have complete trust in and respect for Claire and value her guidance and support which has always been nurturing and professional. I have referred friends, family and colleagues to Claire and highly recommend her as a holistic therapist.”
Stephanie Norris

Senior Consultant

Areas of Specialisation

  • Relationship counselling
  • Anxiety & depression
  • Addictions
  • Infertility
  • Pregnancy
  • Post-natal debrief / Early parenting

An Expectation of Happiness can be Disappointing

Expecting to feel happy when you buy something new, often does not yield that feeling of satisfaction cum happiness. When that is the result, the intention of acquiring the new item was probably faulty in the first place. For instance; getting fixated on buying a new bag, despite the expense of it, can create a huge buzz of adrenaline in the pursuit of said object. But – once bought, the fixated / must have object can stay ignored in the wardrobe. So what was that about?

It’s important to check out the motivation behind the purchase. Feeling unappreciated?  Doing more than your fair share? 

Are there other ways to reward / notice yourself without racking up a huge purchase, especially if you feel ambivalent afterwards about it? If you feel comfortable and happy to show-off your new purchase, then no problem. If you don’t, then that’s a good time to look a little deeper.

Choosing a Therapist

I specialise primarily in women’s health and in particular the life-stages of conception, birth and beyond; providing various services to women and their families at these times of  major and transformative change in establishing healthy relationships and family life. I also work with individuals who struggle with establishing loving relationships, and the downsides of anxiety and depression that can result from such foundational and ongoing difficulties. Struggling to conceive – is another area of specialisation that I work in, assisting women through a program of both bodywork, mindfulness and hypnosis, to let go internally and externally in order to create an opening for new life to occur.

A counsellor supports their client to feel better again, to introduce a level of comfort that helps to alleviate the pain and stress of their issue(s); and to develop more understanding and compassion about themselves to create gentle change. We all aspire to live a happier, healthy and more purposeful life; and effective counselling supports that process. Seeing a therapist helps you to clarify what changes would be useful for you and how to develop that process of change. Comfort and change are the essential principles and purpose of counselling.

Counselling is invaluable for treating any crisis situation, management of stress, grief and trauma, relationship or family problems. Therapy sessions may be for an individual, a couple, a family or a group, as required.

A GP may recommend somebody or a friend might. It’s important to do some research and check the person out by having a conversation with them over the phone, or a short appointment face-to-face, to see if you think they are suitable for you. Their website should give background information about their training, skills and the content will also inform you as to whether this person sounds right for you. There are counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists; and all of them will have different levels of training, skills and approaches in working with people. The most important skill of all, is the therapist’s ability to be empathic. Empathy is to listen with care, attentiveness and attempt to be in your shoes in the telling of your story. When another person sits in the shoes of another, they empathically attune themselves to the suffering of the other, with an openness of heart to understand without judgement or a rush to problem-solve your solutions. This empathic attending helps to develop the right kind of approach that will fit you to be more instrumental in solving your problems, albeit with some help.
When a person’s life is not working in the way they want it to, or they don’t know how to fix it and make it better. Everyone struggles with aspects of our lives some of the time. Most of the time, we all work out how to solve our problems and make life good again. When we can’t, it’s important to look further afield for help that can help us solve our problems.

Introductory phone call

Before you commit to an appointment, it’s important to do some research and
check the person out by having a conversation with them over the phone first, to see
if they seem right for you. Give us a call to find out how we can help
you and make up your own mind. We offer a 20 minute introductory call for you to outline your concerns and the kind of help that you would like to get. That might be a hard question for you to answer, especially if you have sought other professional help before. The bottom line is, if the help is not making a difference, then you probably need to look elsewhere.

Schedule an Introductory Phone Call

OR call
0438 216 351.

Empathy is to listen with care

There are counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists; and all of them will have different levels of training, skills and approaches in working with people. The most important skill of all, is the therapist’s ability to be empathic. Empathy is to listen with care, attentiveness and attempt to be in your shoes in the telling of your story. When another person sits in the shoes of another, they empathically attune themselves to the suffering of the other, with an openness of heart to understand without judgement or a rush to problem-solve your solutions. This empathic attending helps to develop the right kind of approach that will fit you to be more instrumental in solving your problems, albeit with some help.
Schedule an Introductory Phone Call or call 0438 216 351.

Why see a Therapist?

When a person’s life is not working in the way they want it to, or they don’t know how to fix it and make it better, then it makes sense to see a therapist. Everyone struggles with aspects of their lives some of the time. Most of the time, we all work out how to solve our problems and make life good again. When we can’t, it’s important to look further afield for help that can help us solve our problems.

Schedule an Introductory Phone Call

0438 216 351.