Rowan Druce | Counsellor and Psychotherapist
I have lived many lives and shed many skins. Working as an industrial abseiler, construction worker, telecommunications rigger, stage rigger, and working on wind turbines, power stations, gas platforms and iron ore mines. I have spent time building a mud brick house, working as a painter, through to working as a social worker. Through all these experiences I have always been interested in the people I meet and work with.
I have also spent many years turning inwards, working to unravel the mysteries that lie within. This has included extensive personal psychotherapy and bodywork with accomplished healers and therapists. This personal work has enabled me to see more clearly the inner processes within myself, and also others. It is from my experience of these more elusive layers of myself that I have cultivated a grounded understanding of the inner landscape, enabling me to help people turn towards deeper parts of themselves in a safe yet effective manner.
I now wish to help bear the torch, like others did for me, to help people explore their own inner worlds. I work at the Psychology and Psychotherapy Hub in Katoomba.
Qualifications and Accreditation
Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy
Metavision InstituteGraduate Diploma of Counselling
Metavision Institute
Bachelor of Psychological Studies
Western Sydney UniversityAccredited with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) - registration number 31338
Psychotherapy and Processwork
I practice using Processwork (Process Oriented Psychology), which is a body-oriented approach focused on a person’s here-and-now sensory-grounded experience. As a simple distinction, the varieties of different psychotherapy/psychology approaches can be divided into two main arms. Those therapies that take the unconscious/subconscious seriously, and those that do not. Many of the contemporary approaches usually used by psychologists such as CBT/DBT (Or most of the other therapies that use an acronym) do not treat the unconscious/subconscious as a potential healing resource.
Processwork fits into the branch of therapies that takes the unconscious/subconscious as the pathway to real healing and change. It is guided by the belief that by bringing unconscious or subconscious processes into awareness, helps a person understand themself and create the necessary changes that become apparent in that process. In this way, the healing is authentic and guided by the persons genuine desire to change in the ways that they have discovered for themselves. Processwork is a a type of depth psychology and has origins in Jungian Analytical psychology. Processwork expands on the theories of the psychologist Carl Jung to include additional attention being paid to somatic information present in the body.
Noetic
Noetic or ‘Nous’ is a Greek word referring to a type of direct knowing or implicit understanding of an eternal truth. Or, as William James, the philosopher and psychologist defined noetic quality “They are states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule, they carry with them a curious sense of authority for after-time.”
Every person is capable of noetic insight as it is the truth lying hidden in plain view in every experience. It is the role of the Noetic counsellor to help a person navigate their way to this hidden knowing. Noetic insights allow for profound healing and change because of the very fact they are the person’s very own truth. The counsellor has no place in giving answers or solutions to someone else. The role of the counsellor is to help explore a person’s inner world by standing by their side, bearing a torch. In this way a person can safely immerse themself in their own inner world and discover the very truth they already hold.
Evidence Based Practice
Evidence-based practice is a misleading term that actually means manualised therapy. Meaning, the therapy needs to be implemented in the specific manner the manual outlines for the therapist or psychologist as a set of instructions. Evidence based practice ignores a person’s unique individual experience, and instead, assumes that every presentation of a particular mental health condition (such as anxiety or depression) can be considered the same problem and solved with the same solution. Whilst studying my degree in psychological science, I became aware of this major flaw in the logic that underpins evidence-based practice.
Additionally, when I looked closely at the actual scientific studies being used as evidence, the research actually shows that evidence-based practice is not very effective. Shedler (2010) outlines the lack of real world clinical efficacy in the journal article and magazine article linked below.
Instead of applying universal solutions, I work directly with a person’s lived experiences beyond simplified labels such as depression and anxiety. By exploring more fully the lived experiences of being depressed, or feeling anxious, genuine personal solutions arise naturally and authentically, and hold a truth that is evident in the moment they are realised.
Where Is the Evidence for “Evidence-Based ” Therapy?
Jonathan Shedler, PhD
Spiritual Work
The philosophy around spirituality at Noetic Counselling is that the spiritual domain of human experience is embedded within everyday experience. In this sense, spirituality is not viewed as over there, or elsewhere, but spirit is seen as being here and expressing itself in the material experience. All spiritual perspectives and attempts at spiritual connection are welcomed. Explorations are orientated towards whatever personal perspective a person holds.
The work of the therapist is not to take a person to any particular spiritual goal, but instead, to help work through the psychological material that is inherently embedded within their spiritual experience. In recent years, people have moved away from traditional religious organisations and find themselves without spiritual structures but still a yearning to connect to something greater than themselves. This leaves people searching for spiritual connection in alternative places.
Most notably, is the rise in the use of psychedelics to connect spiritually. The recent trials in psychedelic-assisted therapy has resulted in many people experimenting with psychedelics beyond the held traditional setting, or within a university trial. The complexity of the terrain that can be found within the psychedelic experience can be compounded by untendered psychological processes. Often the reason for seeking these experiences is the very thing getting in the way of them. These issues are also present in breathwork workshops, Vipassana meditation retreats and other immersive spiritual experiences.
Psychedelic integration or the integrating of meditation or breathwork sessions can help process complex, often destabilising experiences. Noetic Counselling takes a pragmatic approach to integration, helping a person get their feet back on the ground and bring their experience into the everyday world we all need to inhabit.