MO OSTLER
Counsellor, Psychotherapist, Life Coach and Mentor
Online, Telephone and Face to Face
Welcome to my website. Please take time to read about me and my work. I hope you feel there is something I can offer you here. I work as a Counsellor, Psychotherapist, and Life Coach in Taunton and Milverton, near Wellington.
I have over 30 years of working therapeutically. I offer counselling, psychotherapy, life coaching and supervision, always underpinned by the practice of mindfulness and compassion which underpins my life and work. I believe the relationship between client and therapist or coach is the cornerstone to the work and I encourage you to find somebody with whom you feel comfortable. I may or may not be right for you. I offer free initial consultations to facilitate this.
It can be hard sometimes, to reach out; to admit, even to yourself, that you need help or encouragement. My hope is that I give the people that see me a place to relax and be themselves; in all that that may entail. I offer a warm welcome to all the parts of those who come to see me……both the parts that didn’t/don’t want to come, and those parts that recognise the need to. Whatever you might bring, however you might be.
Even the strongest among us can feel lost, unsure, ambivalent, or unhappy at times. As a Counselling and Coaching Professional, I can help you understand and manage whatever life throws at you, and do it successfully. I believe that you have the strength not just to survive, but to truly thrive.
Working with coaching, we recognise that life is good; but could be even better! We might need that outside, honest but heart-centred voice that tells us the things that we need to hear, showing us how we are holding ourselves back, or encouraging us forward, over those edges we are hesitant to cross. I truly believe in your power to live the life you dream about.
Life Coaching
A Different Approach
Sometimes the psychotherapeutic approach feels inappropriate as the kind of support we may feel we need. It may be that our lives feel good but that we are looking for a different kind of support, or a coach, for some new steps or directions we are making in our lives.
During coaching, I focus on the here and now, looking at your strengths and how you can use them to move yourself forward. We work together, looking at how it is that you organise yourself in the world. In my positon as coach I point out areas of weakness and old habits that are no longer serving you, nurturing that dormant creative spirit inherent in us all, encouraging you and standing behind you as you take that leap that feels so risky; challenging you as you hesitate; holding your hand as you jump. Clients are encouraged find new ways of thinking about and approaching things; it is truly possible to reinvent the person we have become, perhaps learning how to turn any perceived weaknesses into strengths that can help us find our way. Employing me as a coach means that you are ready to explore, grow, develop, and perhaps have fun along the way!
“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were meant to be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.”
― Heath L. Buckmaster
Adults
I have trained both in Hakomi (body centred) Psychotherapy and also extensively in Process Oriented Psychology (over 10 years). I love this work and the scope that it gives to us as human beings, taking in all of our experience, seen and unseen. It owes much of its design to Jung and as such is intent on following the conscious and unconscious signals in our known and unknown dreaming and waking lives. I believe that each of us has within us the answers that we are looking for, and together we discover where in our bodies or our dreams, our intended and unintended communications, those answers lie. You will also have access to creative media, which can be a powerful addition to the work.
Children and Young People
After many years of working with adults, I then trained to work in depth with children of all ages. At their disposal are variety of toys and creative media, providing a safe place for them to explore any issues or problems they might have; without the need for words if necessary. Children and young people often do not have the vocabulary or concepts to be able to express what is happening for them; their language is play. Words often; but not always, come as they unravel things and they begin make sense of their worlds. I am particulary interested in working around issues of attachment which are at the basis of many of children's problems.
I am interested in working with parents and carers along with their children as well as with children and adults separately. I incorporate the ideas of Dan Hughes, who developed Diadic Developmental Psychotherapy, an effective way of working with attachment problems which have often developed as a result of developmental traumas.
Couples Work
As a couple, you may be coming to see me to understand yourselves better, and how you work as a couple, or you may be coming to explore whether you need to separate, or to find a different way of living together. Unfolding the complexities and intricacies of a couple is a source of deep fascination for me, as well as a joy as I witness clouds part and realisations dawn. Rather than working out 'who's to blame for what', we will discover how both are part of the creating the journey of the couple, and of birthing what it is becoming. This can lead to revelations and realisations and a new way of relating and understanding each other.
About Me
Training, Qualifications, and Experience
10 years training in Process Oriented Psychology - through process work we learn to follow process; it is an awareness practice through which, by following our dreams, symptoms, and unintended communications, we discover answers to even the most challenging problems.
3 year training in Polarity Therapy - this is a form of bodywork which works to release areas of stagnation in the body. Through it I learned to understand where we can hold and release tension.
2 year training in Hakomi Psychotherapy - Hakomi is a Hopi Indian word which means 'who are you in relation to these many realms'. This was the beginning of my exploration into the many different faces that we all carry in the world.
3 years training in Play and Creative Arts Therapy; learning to use play and creative media to help both children and adults explore and resolve issues, leading to a place of acceptance and resolution.
1 year training in Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, (Dan Hughes) which recognises the huge impact that attachment can have on developing brains and has devloped a way of working with the relationships and communication of children affected by this. We work with adults together with the children to help improve understanding and communication.
4 years working with teenagers with severe social, behavioural and emotional problems. This opened my eyes to the very real struggles of many children.
10 years practising with the Community of Interbeing, a Buddhist community based on mindfulness and compassion, which informs and stabilises my work and life.