About Noetic Counselling
Somatic Psychotherapy and Processwork
I practice using Processwork (Process Oriented Psychology), which is a body-oriented (somatic) approach focused on a person’s here-and-now sensory-grounded experience (What is being experienced in the moment). As a simple distinction, the varieties of different psychotherapy/psychology approaches can be divided into two main arms. Those therapies that take the unconscious (Sometimes called the subconscious) seriously, and those that do not. Many of the contemporary approaches commonly used by psychologists such as CBT/DBT (Or most of the other therapies that use an acronym) do not treat the unconscious as a potential healing resource.
Processwork fits into the branch of therapies that takes the unconscious as the pathway to real healing and change. It is guided by the belief that by bringing unconscious processes into awareness, a person is helped to 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 is derived from the Ancient Greek word ‘Nous’ which refers to a type of direct knowing or implicit understanding of an eternal truth. Experiences that have a noetic quality have a sense of emerging from deep within us and have a sense of truthfulness beyond the comprehension of our normal ego consciousness or everyday awareness.
Noetic counselling then, is a type of navigation of the inner world that enables a person to meet these deeper parts of themselves. Nous is the persons own hidden knowledge being encountered. It is for this reason that the healing that occurs is authentic and allows for powerful changes that directly improve a person’s life. Noetic counselling entails the knowledge of how to navigate the inner world safely whilst offering compassion and care that enables this process to occur.
Noetic
Evidence-Based therapy
Evidence-based therapy, when used in psychology, is a misleading term that actually refers to methods of 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. This differs to how the term would be intuitively understood. Evidence based therapy 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 therapy and the misconception of the term even amongst psychologists themselves.
Additionally, when I looked closely at the actual scientific studies on evidence-based therapy, the research shows that evidence-based therapy is not very effective. For example, 90% of patients in CBT trials show no meaningful clinical improvement in their presenting issues (Shedler, 2010). Shedler 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
The philosophy regarding 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 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 have 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 unattended 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.
Spiritual Work
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Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy- Metavision Institute
Graduate Diploma of Counselling - Metavision Institute
Bachelor of Psychological Studies - Western Sydney University
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Accredited with the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) - registration number 31338
Rowan Druce
Somatic Psychotherapist and Counsellor
I have 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 have previously 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 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