Integrative Talking Therapies
Integrative talking therapy uses a combined approach that brings together different elements of specific therapies. Different approaches and techniques are tailored to the specific needs and personal circumstances of each individual.
The therapist’s role is to cater to the client’s therapeutic experience by drawing upon specific concepts and techniques from different approaches to the client’s needs. This can empower and enable clients to set goals for therapy and work towards them.
Different approaches that can be integrated include cognitive behavioural therapies, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies as well as humanistic therapies.
Integrative talking therapy is a flexible and inclusive approach. It can be beneficial for those wanting to overcome negative patterns of behaviour caused by anxieties and fear and for those experiencing past and current trauma, depression, low self-esteem and addiction.
The hope from therapy is to empower people to take charge of their life and to live a fulfilled life.
Play/Creative Therapy
This type of therapy is used with sexually abused children as an effective way to “connect” and “heal” the child who has undergone significant trauma. With growing numbers of child sexual abuse being brought to our attention we feel that Play/Creative Therapy can be embraced as valuable therapy.
Sexually abused children suffer from low self esteem , feelings of powerlessness, victimisation and guilt thus experiencing defensive techniques such as numbing, splitting, repression and disassociation. Play/Creative Therapy allows the child to feel “connected” and be “healed”. Here at the MAF we presently have therapists with a background in therapeutic play who work with individuals from 3 to 16 years old.
Play/Creative Therapy provides the individual to communicate that which many times cannot be articulated ….we use the “child’s language of play…” We use a range of therapies including, Creative therapies (art, clay, music, movement and drama) Sand play, Therapeutic stories and Creative visualisation. During “Special Time” we fully support individuals to help heal the scars of sexual abuse.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of expression and communication. Within this context, art is not used as a diagnostic tool but as a medium to address emotional issues which may be confusing and distressing.
Artwork can act as a container which is more in touch with the unconscious and this acts as a bridge between the client and the therapist.
Although influenced by psychoanalysis, art therapists have been inspired by theories such as attachment-based psychotherapy and have developed a broad range of client-centred approaches such as psycho-educational, mindfulness and mentalization-based treatments, compassion-focussed and cognitive, and socially engaged practice.
Youth Counselling
MAF offers support and a safe space to people aged 12 – 18yrs who have been affected by sexual abuse. The Youth Counselling service was set up due to an increase in referrals from survivors and partner, statutory and voluntary organisations. A specialised Counsellor in the area of abuse will provide one to one therapeutic counselling for children and young people age 12-18. An integrative counselling approach will be adopted which will suit the client and their recovery. We provide a high level of confidentiality to our young clients. MAF operates within the Children’s Scotland Act 1995 relating to child protection and disclosure of abuse.
If you are aged between 12-18 and would like to see a counsellor, you can refer yourself to our service by calling MAF. Our counselling service is free. The length of counselling will be dependant on what you, the client requires for your process of recovery. If you are from another partner organisation you can contact MAF with a referral for your client
Our confidentiality agreement means that we won’t tell anybody else what you talk about in sessions. For your own protection, we might sometimes have to tell somebody if you tell us you or anyone else is being harmed in anyway; we will try to talk this over with you first.
Benefits and Improvements of Youth Counselling are, Increased Self Confidence, Improved Sleep Pattern, Coping strategies for traumatic flashbacks, Lower dependency on anti depressant medication, Control of suicide ideation, Promotion of Healthy Eating, Positive Relationships,Mechanisms to cope with anxiety and panic disorders.
Thought Field Therapy
Thought Field Therapy is a new technique for the rapid elimination of all forms of emotional distress. It works rather like acupressure by utilising the body’s energy systems.
It was discovered by Dr Roger Callahan, a very experienced American Psychologist, discovered TFT fortuitously when treating a patient with a very severe phobia. Frustrated by his lack of success with conventional techniques at which he was skilled, he applied a kinesiology method normally used to treat physical problems. Both he and his patient were astonished to find that her symptoms were abolished within 60 seconds; 20 years later the patient is still symptom free. Since then Dr Callahan has developed his techniques so that many complex psychological problems can be resolved quickly and permanently.
Time Line Therapy
Time Line Therapy™ (TLT) is a powerful therapeutic process that has evolved from hypnosis and NLP, developed by Tad James, PhD in the 1980s. It was developed by applying a therapeutic process to the concept that we store our memories in a linear manner in an internal memory storage system.
TLT provides one of the most powerful processes and techniques for personal change and growth by facilitating the elimination of the painful emotions attached to memories or events in the past. TLT also focuses on what we can learn from those events and use what we learn as a resource for the future.
Time Line Therapy™ techniques and practical processes produce long-lasting transformation much quicker than what is currently called “brief therapy”, with a minimum discomfort to the client. Some examples of painful emotions include anger, rage, sadness, hurt, regret, fear, guilt and remorse.
TLT also enables you to clear limiting beliefs that can leave you stuck in the past and stop you from creating what you want in life. Both unwanted and negative emotions and limiting beliefs influence every area of our lives.
Hypno-psychotherapy
Hypno-psychotherapy is a form of integrative therapy combining principles and practices from across different psychotherapeutic approaches. These are further enhanced by the use of hypnosis and so called ‘trance’ work. Hypno-psychotherapists are trained in both psychotherapy and hypnosis.
Hypno-psychotherapy can be effective for anxiety disorders, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, unprocessed trauma and more. Because it integrates different therapeutic modalities, it’s quite flexible and the sessions are tailored to each individual client.
Sessions can last from 75 minutes up to 90 and sometimes even longer in the early stages of therapy (up to 2 hours). This means that they are usually longer than more traditional therapy sessions.
Although the words ‘hypnosis’ and ‘trance’ may sound scary to people, it’s nothing like the ‘stage hypnotism’ that you may have seen in the media. Trance is a very natural state that all of us experience regularly. For example, when you are day dreaming, when you’re thinking about something that happened in the past, or when you are worrying about the future and running all sorts of scenarios in your mind (which is what people with anxiety often experience ).
The most negative form of ‘trance’ is when a person is experiencing a so called ‘flashback’ and they are reliving something traumatic from their past as if it was happening in real time. The purpose of hypno-psychotherapy is to help people to come out of whatever ‘negative trance’ that may be causing them distress. From there, it’s used to help them to reprocess whatever may be driving their distress (e.g. traumatic memories) in a safe manner.
Hypno-psychotherapy also utilises trancework to help the client rebuild and strengthen their resilience (‘inner resources’) and to build healthier coping strategies.
Complementary Therapies
We offer a range of complementary therapies including but not exclusively; Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Reiki and Indian Head Massage. All the therapies help to reduce stress and anxiety and promote positive health and wellbeing.
Aromatherapy Massage: is a gentle form of massage using essential oils which are derived from various parts of plants and have therapeutic properties. It helps to induce relaxation, increase energy levels and reduce the negative effects of stress while promoting positive health and wellbeing.
Reflexology: is a non-intrusive therapy, which works on the principles that there are “reflex” points in the feet, hands and ears which correspond to the various parts of the body. The therapist will apply pressure using specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques. You may feel areas of transient discomfort during the treatment, but generally the experience should be relaxing.
Reiki: meaning “Universal Life Energy” is a natural form of healing therapy, using non-invasive gentle touch. It aims to increase energy levels and promote relaxation and wellbeing.
Indian Head Massage: is a non-invasive therapy, carried out to the upper back, across the shoulders, upper arms, neck, scalp and face with the client remaining fully clothed. It helps to restore a state of balance by relieving stress through the body’s natural healing process.
Thermal Auricular Therapy: A hollow tube (similar to a straw) made of natural cloth and wax is inserted into the ear, once a comfortable fit has been established, the candle is burnt down to a safe level then removed, it is always performed on both ears. The therapy also helps to equalise the pressure in the head and ears. A deeply relaxing, calming and soothing treatment which may give symptom relief of many problems and conditions associated with the ear, nose and throat areas. It is also calming and relaxing in cases of Anxiety and Stress.