personal story
Before becoming a Certified Gestalt Psychotherapist and opening my psychotherapy practice in Toronto in 2007, I was involved in the pursuit and struggle to find out what I really wanted to do with my life.
Since age 20, I have been working on personal issues. My life has taken a long and winding road towards personal growth and healing.
Over the years, I have worked individually, in groups, workshops and seminars with different therapists, which exposed me to a range of modalities. So I have been there, groped in the dark, grasped at straws, tried, fallen down, and picked myself up again. And again.
(You can find a detailed version of this in my book, written over a 14 year span, which tells my personal story and struggles with binge eating disorder, Binge Crazy: A Psychotherapist’s Memoir of Food Addiction, Mental Illness, Obesity and Recovery, was published in 2015.)
As the book states, Gestalt and a 12-step program have been the two major influences of my recovery. Both take a holistic approach to change where what you think, how you feel, what you do and what you believe are all important, as is the society we live in and the pressures we all face in this changing world.
The 12-step program has influenced my understanding of addiction, mental and emotional health, and the personal importance of developing a spiritual outlook on life.
Gestalt has brought me awareness and acceptance of who and what I am, what I want and need, how to recognize and feel my emotions, understand their impact on my body and in my life, and use them in a constructive way.
Both have helped me see that we each must find our own path.
change isn’t easy
even when we’re totally committed.
we naturally resist what change invites:
the new, the strange, the unfamiliar.
we can end up
compromising our lives
not pursuing our dreams
and settling for just okay.
but with some skilled support
awareness
and willingness
change can lead to
a different journey and outcome.
it is possible.