About Calum
Hi, great to meet you! My name is Calum (He/Him). I am a Therapist and Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, with over 10 years of experience in Mental Health, working with clients across the lifespan (my youngest client has been aged 7 and eldest, 81). I have extensive training in a range of therapeutic modalities (see below), however, my approach in therapy is not confined to a textbook or rigid way of operating. I hold the evidence-based in mind, whilst trying to look at clients as human beings, who are facing challenges; as we all do at times – therapists included!
Calum's Availability
Monday – 3:30pm – 8:30pm
Tuesday – 12:30 – 5:30pm
Wednesday – 9 – 5pm
Saturday – 8:30am – 3:30pm
Calum's approach to counselling
I believe in the human capacity for change and growth. I also believe in people’s power to change their own situations. Learning skills and strategies are important, but often, people will come to me, aware of the things they are doing that are unhelpful, but feeling confused or unclear about how they can begin to change things or improve. My work therapeutically is focused on beginning to uncover these patterns, learn about ourselves in depth, and to formulate a plan together on how to move forward.
My experience, from thousands of hours of therapy (or counselling, whatever you’d like to call it), has taught me that a one-size fits all approach doesn’t work for people, and that a tunnel vision focus on relieving symptoms, whether it be relationship issues, anger, anxiety, or depression for example, can cause us to overlook the patterns underneath that are keeping us stuck. Human beings are social animals and our relationships influence and impact us. Often, those we care about, or spend the most time with, see the best and worst of us (think, ‘Can’t live with ‘um, can’t live without ‘um). I view human beings as being part of a wider ‘system’ or network that is larger than them.
Many clients will have ‘cut-off’ or distant relationships from those in their families, I believe that often, there is unresolved emotion in those relationships in the sense that we feel better because we are not seeing those people, however, the aim is to be able to connect to those people, without feeling we cannot control our emotional reactions to them. Of course, emotion is contagious, but I don’t want my clients to be ruled and led by their emotional reactions. I want clients to feel empowered. To have the confidence and skills to manage and centre themselves in the face of anyone; even ‘difficult’ family members, partners, and friends.
I am a therapist who believes in holistic health. Body and mind are connected. I recognise the impact of diet, sleep, and exercise in overall wellbeing. For this reason, alongside my own services, I offer tailored packages of care which are designed to support you as a whole, including the facilitation of referrals to a carefully selected group of partners (Psychiatry, OT’s, Dietetics, GP’s, Personal Trainers) who can support you alongside your therapy or coaching with me.
I utilise an integrative approach to therapy, given that human beings are unique, as an experience therapist, I believe part of my job is to integrate elements and techniques from a variety of modalities, depending on the needs of the person before me. I want the approach to fit the client, not the client to fit the approach. I have training in the following modalties:
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Bowen Family System Theory
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Schema Therapy (Level One)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
- Psychoneuroimmunology – Diaphragmatic Breathing
Experience
Calum’s experience in the Mental Health Sector spans over a decade. He has worked in public mental health services both in Australia and in the UK. Some of Calum’s experience includes:
- Senior Mental Health Clinician at headspace Bondi Junction – providing therapy, leadership, supervision, and consultation to clients and other professionals in the local community.
- Assertive Outreach Clinician at CAMHS St George and Sutherland: CAMHS services clients (0-18) presenting with severe and complex mental ill health. Calum undertook the the Assertive Outreach role covering the whole of the St George and Sutherland regions. This role focused on providing therapeutic interventions independently out in the community for clients who couldn’t access therapy in the traditional way (often, because their mental health was too poor). Calum also developed and led groups in the community, including developing and training a local NGO in a therapeutic group focused on managing extreme emotions.
- Mental Health Clinician at Healthy Young Minds (United Kingdom): Providing therapy and interventions for children, parents, and families with complex mental health difficulties. Calum co-led and delivered the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy Programme within the service.
- Leicestershire Children’s Services (2017-2019)
- Turning Point Drug and Alcohol Services (2016)
- Eating Disorder Inpatient Units (2013-2016)
The course of our life is dictated by our minds
Often, we are operating on auto-pilot, feeling stuck, knowing something isn't quite right, but feeling powerless to do anything about it. Therapy provides us with the opportunity to slow things down and lead our lives, rather than being led.
We have a short time on this earth. Investment in yourself means, if you're not happy with something, you have to change it. Therapy can provide you with the time and space to reflect, make sense of, and find a path forward.