Brendan Starling

About Brendan

I am available for in-person and secure Online Counselling at this time – please contact me for details.

I combine my own therapeutic experiences and professional training; I have now been “working” in the field of personal growth for 14 years. The process of therapy I engage in with my clients is influenced greatly by the therapeutic work I have participated in myself.

This “work” is rooted in exploring the story or narrative you believe describes your life. Telling your narrative helps you learn more about who you are. You can also sort through relevant personal history, assign meaning to your experience, as-well-as, identify your gifts and on-going dilemmas. Working in this narrative style provides us with a framework of how to proceed and often highlights the need to enhance or develop practical cognitive skills that you see will assist you.

Beyond this narrative, I am also able to guide you in therapeutic work that asks you to “look within” and explore the emotional experience of your inner world. These therapeutic endeavours work less with the cognitive mind and more with our feeling or sensing mind & body. Exploring our inner experience is a process that has a long tradition in the field of therapy and is also something that has been part of many cultural traditions for centuries.

As is always the case, you have the final say on what we will and will not do in our sessions together. I believe in practicing collaboratively with you and that therapy is highly variable and flexible. One basic analogy I often refer to is that people will often see progress if they notice that their problems / life dilemmas lessen in intensity, frequency, and duration. I will do whatever I can, within reason, to support your growth as a person.

“To live with great wisdom and compassion is possible for anyone who genuinely undertakes a training of their heart and mind. What better thing to do with your life?”

– Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart