|
|
|
| FRESH AM 1413 1431 Radio for the Dales
Allan Hollings interviews Gwyneth Moss about Emotional Health
A: Tell us something about yourself Gwyneth, are you local to Skipton? How did you come to live here?
G: I grew up in Leeds and my Gran lived in Colne. We were always coming over this way. I went to University down south and then worked overseas and in London. By the time I was in my late thirties I found myself missing the northern countryside of my childhood more and more. I was lonely and often miserable in London and didn't care for the big city scene. When my employers announced they were opening a regional office in Leeds and were looking for people to move north I was delighted.
I settled into Skipton and commuted to Leeds on the train. Six months later the whole company went bust and all of us were made redundant. I woke up one day and wasn't going to work any more. I knew two things to be true. "I am staying in Skipton and I am going to be self employed"
A: And how did you come to be doing what you are doing now?
G: How I came into this work was quite by accident and coincidence. I met someone who was a therapist and I got interested.
So I then did lots and lots of training here in England and four times I've travelled to America to go to conferences and seminars. I have trained in Therapeutic Hypnosis, in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and in Energy Psychology with the foremost teachers and therapists in the field. I continue to train all the time. Its an endless journey of learning and I'm now in my fifth year of full time practice.
After lots of training, studying and practicing I am now a Human Givens psychotherapist, a hypnotherapist and a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I am one of the country's foremost trainers in Emotional Freedom Technique and a teacher of Tapas Accupressure Technique.
But all of this is long, meaningless and greek words to most people and most people are the people that matter, so I use the term Emotional Health Therapy.
A: What is Emotional Health?
G: Well really its what it says. We know when we are emotionally healthy: we feel calm, think clearly and act resourcefully. Life is good. We bounce back from the knocks and appreciate the good times. Its like mind and body are working together and we know that the past is to be learned from not lived in.
A: So if that is Emotional Health, what is Emotional Health Therapy?
Emotional Health Therapy is a collection of helpful ideas and effective, holistic techniques from complementary psychology.
The Human Givens approach to emotional health says that just as we all have emotional needs and we all have the resources to get our needs met, or put more simply: "we've all got what it takes to get what we need"
Emotional Health therapy is thus about using whatever is effective to help people use their thinking skills, imagination, natural empathy and communication skills to get their emotional needs met.
Some people may have heard of therapeutic hypnosis and NLP which are highly effective ways of helping a person use their imagination and get mind and body back into balance. Yet some people are suspicious of hypnosis, they may have seen a stage show where hypnosis is used for entertainment, but therapeutic hypnosis is very pleasant and relaxing. Its like when you get into bed and you are half way between awake and asleep, aware of what's going on around you and so comfortable that you just drift. You know you can open your eyes if you want to and you just don't want to. Therapeutic hypnosis is hypnosis used for your benefit, to get what you want for yourself.
Hypnosis has been used to help people for hundreds of years and now completely new on the scene is Emotional Freedom Technique, a mind-body energy balancing tool that anyone can learn for themselves. EFT only came to this country from the US about 7 years ago and is based on 5,000 years of Chinese medicine. We talk about our emotions and then tap on acupressure points of the body. It looks daft and feels silly but the results are surprising. Some people may have seen it on the Richard and Judy show on TV.
A: What sort of people come to you?
G: All sorts of people. Ordinary people.
People who find themselves doing something they don't want to do like bad habits or unwanted behaviours. Like blushing or nail biting. Or smoking or pigging themselves on chocolate or crying for no reason or feeling out of control.
And some People come because they want to do something and they can't. Like they want to speak in public and they are shaking with nerves or they want to take advantage of cheap flights but they are terrified. Or they just find themselves getting irrationally angry at small things.
People also come because they do something well and they want to do it better. They want to improve their golf or sporting performance.
A: So how do we get ourselves into such difficulties?
Well its life really. It's the way we live with our fast modern lifestyle and its also the big and difficult life events that Life throws it at us. There's a lot less now of family and community support and there's lots more of uncertainty and unexpected change.
When our emotional needs are not met we can get to feeling or behaving like we are out of control. And its not that you are mad or bad, it's just like your mind has got itself into a muddle.
When we've been through difficult or traumatic times its like it gets stuck in our head. We can find that little things act as triggers and we find ourselves reliving the emotions of what happened then. Or when we relax those uncomfortable feelings seem to creep up on us. We can feel like we are losing control or going mad, its scary.
And now the good news is that with the mind-body releasing techniques I use our brains can be quicky and calmly guided to reprocess those memories so that we are free of the intensity. We still know that it happened and it just fades into the past. We get more distance from it. The past is to be learned from not lived in.
A: Can you give me an example?
G: Yes, one of the other therapists at Ilkley Healing Centre had witnessed an horrific traffic accident on the day she passed her driving test. As she was driving away from the test centre, she saw the car in front of her go out of control and plough into innocent bystanders. The images of the horror she had seen stuck vividly in her mind and she couldn't drive again. Every time she sat behind a steering wheel she had flashbacks and relived what had happened. Eight years later, she asked me for an appointment, we did Emotional Freedom Technique to de-traumatise that accident and guess what, the next week she went out and bought a car. We did two more sessions to build her confidence and now she is driving all over the country.
A: How many sessions does it take to help someone?
G: Now as a therapist I'm a bit like a taxi driver. When you come to me I ask you where you want to go in terms of your emotions and behaviour. Its then my job to get you there by the shortest route. Usually I see people for three or four sessions and some are one session miracles.
Other people who are experiencing more intense anxiety, compulsions or feeling very depressed I may see for more sessions. Always we are focussed on being practical and getting improvement in each session.
A: What happens in a session?
G: Well, we talk. I ask in a respectful way about the problem. When it started and when or where it happens. Then I'll help with techniques that use a person's imagination or balance energy in the body. Usually people feel a difference quite quickly.
You know, it's a myth that therapy has to be long, drawn-out and painful and revealing. Sometimes I have helped people without even knowing what it was all about. And I often find myself laughing with my clients as they get things into perspective and something that was such a difficulty starts to seem silly.
I also give people advice and teach them how to build an emotionally healthy lifestyle. Good nutrition, exercise and relaxation are just as important to emotional health as they are to physical health.
A: Where can people see you?
G: At Ilkley Healing Centre and at my home consulting room in Skipton.
I also run training workshops in the techniques I use. Particularly Emotional Freedom Technique. I have trained doctors, nurses, counsellors, and many complementary therapists to use these techniques to help others. So if you are listening and are interested in complementary therapy then do take a look at my website www.Emotional-Health.co.uk |
|
.
.
.
.
|
|
|
