Mary Smail

Dramatherapy,  Psychotherapy, Supervision

Training - Psyche and Soma Soulmaking through Sesame part-time course      

Self-esteem/Assertion training

Spiritual befriending 

If you feel ...

anxious

depressed or struggling with low self-worth

up against a brick wall

held back by inner critic attacks

conflicted by different parts of yourself which seem opposed

concerned about relationships

asked to "cheer up" when you feel down

resentful of someone and unsure how to forgive

wondering about sexual orientation

wanting to be more creative

concerned about dyslexia or dyspraxia issues

wanting to think through a professional/work situation

wishing to explore spirituality or consider God-questions

hurt through misunderstanding in a  church situation

without someone who really  matters

in a grief or bereavement process

facing a diagnosis

wondering about what happens when a soul dies

dealing with areas of dying (your own or someone who you care about)

meeting the aging process of your parents or of a loved elder

if you want to work more cognitively with ideas around confidence, self-esteem and assertion

needing clinical supervision of your practice

wanting a space to listen to your soul

then I am ready to meet you to see if we can work together to explore your story and the meaning it has for your future life.  

I will provide a safe room and confidential time for you to bring whatever issue you would like to explore. New opportunities usually come to us through what seems most challenging. The gift is to trust that there is more than we see - the Soul story may not yet have had any space to be heard and recognised. 

I am trained and registered both in Psychotherapy (talk therapy) and as a Creative Arts Therapist, (Sesame Dramatherapy).  This means I can offer the option to talk or to use a more imaginative, symbolic approach which some people prefer. The work can be focused and short term, or it may need a longer on-going timescale.  

I  draw heavily on the Inter Family Systems and Self led therapy approach, having completing the on-line IFS Inner Circle training. IFS is an innovative approach which enables the client to learn how to listen to and befriend differing inner parts and attitudes as if they are characters, each with a valid perspective.   People come to understand their inner critic, the shamed or frightened child, the addict, the procrastinator, the melancholic, the ambitious in a new way.  When these are understood in their own right they can be viewed with compassion and curiosity and integrated so that there is unity inside, and less of the pulling in different ways which all humans experience.  All parts are welcome in this way of working.    

As I am an Assertion Trainer it may be that we work to build up your self-esteem and confidence, giving you everyday skills to cope with relationship, work and life in general.  This can be done as a course in itself.  We work with:

• What assertive behaviour is
• The Low Self Esteem/ High Self Esteem cycle and how it shows in the body
• Self Esteem Rights
• Where the Inner Critic comes from and how to ask it to take a rest
• What's my life like and what roles I play?
• How to use my anger
• Saying No
• Preparing for change and the self-nurturing kit
• Making conversation

I am also presently training in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) which uses bi-lateral stimulation to coordinate the implicit and explicit hemispheres of the brain together and is highly effective with trauma.

My practice also specialises in working with what I call “The Deathlands” This means I am prepared to accompany people through the physical and spiritual issues involved when meeting Diagnosis, Bereavement, the Dying Process and the notion of the Afterlife – what does or does not happen next.

SOUL-WORKS SESSIONS - meeting outside the box

A Soul-Works session offers an alternative space to either supervision or therapy and is something different. It is mainly geared towards experienced therapists or health professionals who have been through a previous therapeutic process and are now looking for something else.  This way of working is less defined than therapy and recognises unexpected new possibilities which emerge, unique to the person and the situation they bring.  The Soul-Works session sets a space where the relationship and work is more fluid.

Soul-Works is an agreed and regulated meeting where the focus is on any issue the person attending brings. There may or may not be a goal or an outcome.   People can bring aspects of their professional life which do not belong in supervision or something from their personal experience that allows work and individual circumstance to come together. People come because they want a different kind of accompanying and set their own agenda that may vary from session to session.

Similar to therapy, the work is confidential, but the boundary is lighter. It differs for each person and is discussed, co-worked and agreed at the beginning of the work.  I may already know you or have worked with you before, and after sessions are over, we may return to our previous form of relationship.     The relationship is mutual and co-participatory and occasionally I can be available for “outside the room” accompanying.  I am open to negotiate how we can practically respond to what you need from our work. 

 A Soul-Works session lasts typically 50 minutes. Sessions can be on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.