Dr Violet Sherwood

I am a psychotherapist with twenty years experience including psychotherapy, counselling, integrative and holistic health, and tertiary health education. I work with individual adults. I offer a warm, relaxed and welcoming approach in a safe, confidential and supportive space.

Areas of Special Interest

• trauma
• abuse
• grief and loss
• life direction
• creativity
• spirituality
• dissociative disorders
• depression
• anxiety
• eating issues
• wellbeing and personal growth
• gender exploration
• relationships
• addictions
• birth trauma
• adoption, infertility

Counselling/Therapy Services

I value and support your journey towards your most authentic self, and your growth into your full potentials as a human being, along the way resolving traumas and unhelpful beliefs that currently limit your growth and wellbeing, and finding meaning and purpose for your unique presence on this earth.

Some benefits you may notice from psychotherapy include:

• a greater sense of who you are and your place
• meaning and purpose in life
• more ease and resilience to be with difficult emotions and situations
• greater ability to calm yourself when stressed
• better relationships with yourself and other people
• greater clarity and focus in life choices and events
• more creativity, energy and aliveness
• skills to deal with life effectively rather than feel done to by life

Counselling/Therapy Approach

I provide both short and long term psychotherapy. In short term work we may focus on a specific goal or issue that you have. With long term work there is greater freedom to explore how to connect deeply with living your life with meaning, purpose and fulfilling your potentials; how to live creatively; and how to experience greater ease and wellbeing in your relationships, sense of self and life choices. I draw on a range of skills and methods tailored to your individual needs and healing journey. I integrate modern psychotherapy skills with proven practices from ancient wisdom traditions to facilitate greater health, wellbeing, vitality, and positive transformation in both your inner development and your outer life and relationships.

Background and Experience

My psychotherapy experience includes both individual and couple work. I have primarily worked in private practice and for agencies specialising in trauma, sexual abuse and eating issues. I have studied psychologies that reflect the interconnectedness of mind, body, relationships and something meaningful beyond our own selves, whether you experience this as a connection with nature, art or beauty, or a more defined spirituality or religion. I am experienced with integrative treatments for complex trauma and dissociation including the neurobiology of attachment and trauma, mindfulness practice, somatic and energy modalities, and methods such as Internal Family Systems that help reconnect dissociated parts of the self.

Supervision Services

I provide supervision for psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists, doctors, and other professionals. I see supervision as a collaborative process. The supervisory relationship offers richness and depth in our experience of our selves, which in turn enriches and deepens our work with others. We attend to the psychodynamics of our inner and outer relationships, cultural and societal beliefs, and self-care as well as exploring our therapeutic work. I have extensive personal experience of individual, group, and peer supervision, including several years of supervision specifically focused on my work with clients with severe dissociative disorders.

Modalities I integrate into my psychotherapeutic approach include:

• Relational psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Jungian-inspired depth psychology
• Imaginal psychology
• Process-oriented psychology
• Integrative Trauma-informed treatment approach to complex trauma
• Interpersonal neurobiology of attachment and trauma
• Internal Family Systems
• Emotionally focused relationships
• Mindfulness meditation
• Qigong healing energy practice
• Somatic experiencing
• Sensorimotor therapy
• Eco psychology
• Havening