Trained as a clinical psychologist in the 1970’s, we were introduced to a bit of everything, sex therapy, behavioural therapy, couples therapy, working with phobias, depression, addictions and schizophrenia. The pallet of learning was extensive.
As a combined result of my experience I specialise in:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Work-related stress
- Worry
- Social anxiety
- PTSD
I mostly work with adults and young adults. In today’s ‘urban jungle’, anxiety, in my opinion, prevails as the epidemic. The anxiety of the ‘Facebook’ world and brand advertising and social images of perfection, do take their toll in the youth as illustrated by youth suicide.
For adults, the same – work stress, lifestyle balance impact on relationships, anxiety accumulates and collapses the system into depression.
My approach is integrated, in that I will use whatever I see as offering the biggest contribution to the well-being of the individual. This often means borrowing from different schools of thought. I integrate a great deal of the cognitive behavioural approach into my work.
I also work alongside doctors and psychiatrists and am very literate in the appropriate uses of medication.
“I am doing well and loving life. Thanks to you I can stand in front of people & do presentations. Thank you for re-wiring my brain and enabling me to live free without fear. It brings tears to my eyes what you did for me.”
Mission completed through thinking explained!
Love S – (No longer social phobic, no longer afraid of failure)
“I Dear Gwendoline Smith,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
This book has not only been instrumental in helping my marriage but has enabled me to continue on my journey at Otago University to become a primary school teacher.
The way the book is presented and written makes it, in my view, accessible and user-friendly. I read the book in a day, then decided to re-read it a couple of days later to really cement the new strategies and knowledge that had been shared.
A paper I’m currently sitting is called How People Learn. It has been at times quite distressing but enlightening at the same time. I can see how my own thought processes have been hindering my potential and abilities, but honestly, NO MORE!!
Your book has been mind-altering!!! (The whole point I know)
Thank you once again, you have made a phenomenal difference to my way of thinking, enabling me to change my own life.”
Sam Hamilton