Siggi Halling Psychotherapist

‘The purpose of psychotherapy

is to set people free.’

Rollo May

WHAT IS THERAPY?

For me, as an existential therapist, it is the ongoing exploration of our very existence and how we relate to ourselves, other people and the world around us. In essence, what it is to be human and how to live as rewarding and pleasurable a life as possible.

This is no easy task. Life is often difficult and challenging. But difficulties and challenges are in themselves a feature of our existence and need to be explored. It is through this exploration that awareness and understanding can be achieved, which in turn opens the door for you to be best you can be and live the life you would truly like to live.

‘The greatest gift we can offer anyone

is our true presence.’

Thich Nhat Hanh

ABOUT ME

I was born in Iceland to an Icelandic mother and English father. The youngest of three boys, the family moved to Oxfordshire when I was a baby. When I was eleven my mother died suddenly. My whole world changed in an instant. It was from this moment that I started to think more deeply about my own existence.

My first job was as an advertising copywriter, a career path I pursued for thirteen years. However, tiring of selling chocolate bars and breakfast cereal, I rekindled my passion for exploring life’s more challenging concerns and trained as a psychotherapist. I have a private practice in Chartridge, near where I live in Buckinghamshire.

In many ways it feels like my life as come full circle. No longer that small eleven year old boy. But still those big eleven year old thoughts.

‘The greatest happiness is to know

the source of unhappiness.’

Fyodor Dostoevsky

MY APPROACH

At the core of my approach to therapy is an overriding belief in 'openness'. Openness to whatever you decide to bring to therapy, without forming any judgements or allowing any preconceptions and assumptions to get in the way.

I will listen attentively and empathically and ‘be-with-you’ as you relate your experiences, always curious, always keen to allow you to describe your thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to interpret them. Always exploring and looking for what your present concerns might be revealing about your sense of self and your relationship with others and the world around you and how in turn these might have been influenced by past experiences and relationships.

Through this process of mutual openness and exploration, new insights, perspectives and possibilities can emerge, allowing you to see yourself and the world differently.

‘In the depth of winter

I finally learned that there was in me

an invincible summer.’

Albert Camus

AREAS COVERED

I regard all the areas I cover as existential in nature, in that they are manifestations of the difficulties and challenges we can all experience in our day-to-day lives. They include:

*Anxiety

* Depression

* Bereavement, loss and grief

* Trauma and PTSD

* Stress

* Relationship issues

* Low self esteem

* Panic attacks

* Isolation and loneliness

* Social anxiety

* Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

One of my main areas of interest is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), although I don’t see it as a ‘disorder’, rather as the body’s response to anxiety, which can often be linked to past trauma or emotional distress.

‘We don’t see things as they are,

we see things as we are.’

Anais Nin

QUALIFICATIONS

I am a fully qualified psychotherapist, with a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychotherapy and Counselling from Regent’s University in London, one of the major institutions for training in existential-phenomenological therapy.

I am also a registered member of both the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP) and the Society for Existential Analysis (SEA), part of the Constructivist and Existential College of the UKCP.

Together with this, I worked as a volunteer counsellor for Mind for five years, as well as setting up and running a local OCD support group, backed by Mind and the national OCD charity, OCD Action.