Counselling for the Thorns in Life
This is the story of a Scarlet Firethorn bush.
Why write such a story?
It is a memorial plant for me of a life story.
A story that I want to remember.
A story that teaches me how dreams don’t always work out.
A story that I need to live by the life lessons it represents.
The shrub is also a tool for showing clients that beauty and pain are often intermixed. The Firtehorn has long, sharp thorns,
It will remind me to handle clients gently. Their pain may not be visible under the display of the nice life they show to the world.
My approach to coping skills for emotional pain
Working with thoughts, emotions, behaviours and sensations of the body (TEBS) is the approach I use in therapy. The client is encouraged to identify how thoughts drive our emotions and physical sensations.
Reducing or learning to live with our emotional stress is done by practising alternative, positive thoughts. These thoughts have to be supported by associated behaviours.