Counselling with Mark Sawyer

Don't leave it too late to maintain your foundations...

About Counselling

I am an Integrative counsellor and supervisor making use of the Gestalt Approach to Counselling. As a client once remarked, it is not necessary to understand these systems to benefit from being helped by them. However, for the curious, a brief outline follows.

Gestalt (German for whole) is a process-oriented therapy and looks at what is happening as well as what is being discussed. Gestalt draws on a variety of psychological theories such as Phenomenology, Field Theory and Gestalt Psychology. It is a creative therapy with the aim of raising awareness in regard to how you live your life. In practice I may invite you to work with clay, art materials, objects, sand tray, movement and dreams - the options are endless and Gestalt therapy can be tailored to you.


"Gestalt Therapy is permission to be exuberant, to have gladness, to play with all the nicest possibilities for ourselves within our short lives. For me it stands for all that is in front of me, for all that promises completeness of experiencing, for the things to come which are awesome, frightening, tearful, moving, unfamiliar, archetypal, growthfull. For me it means the full embrace of life - the savouring of all its subtle tastes."

Joseph Zinker


A central tenet of the Gestalt Approach to counselling is The Paradoxical Theory of Change. This states that:

"change occurs when one becomes what s/he is, not when s/he tries to become what s/he is not".

Arnold Beisser, M.D.

So Gestalt leads to more authentic ways of relating to self and others.

I work with Buddhist ethics and principles. An experienced meditator, I explore the relationship human beings have towards suffering and the discovery of inner resources by which we can heal ourselves.

"At the centre of your being you have the answer: you know who you are and you know what you want."

Lao Tzu

What Conditions can Creative Counselling help?

Relationships, issues for male & female survivors of sexual abuse, issues around disability, infertility, anger, rage, eating and body-image issues, anxiety, bereavement, life dilemmas, and depression -- to name but a few...


What Benefits can be Expected?

Each person is unique, so there are many and varied ways in which people will experience and benefit from their counselling. My counselling methods have given rise to the following changes in clients:

Feeling happier, more contented; feeling alive and having more energy; feeling empowered; feeling more authentic and less fragmented; feeling more calm and relaxed; improved health; greater acceptance of life circumstances; improved self-esteem and self-awareness. Or as one client said to me, "It gets the problem off my chest..."