Roz Robinson Yoga Teacher and Psychotherapeutic Counsellor

We all come into this world with a template of patterns based around our physical and emotional needs which, from the moment of birth, instinctively seek completion through our conscious and unconscious minds. These patterns are stored through memory in our unconscious minds in our formative years and reinforced by subsequent experiences. They govern how we feel about ourselves, our relationships with others and the world around us throughout our lives.

Our unconscious destructive pattern

The mind is very primitive and is, crudely speaking, a reality simulator. It looks to find meaning in life and consequently refers every experience of the day, every stimuli, to the unconscious memory bank and so creates expectations which then become our reality. These unconscious expectations are so powerful that we are at the mercy of them; they map our lives and often repeat destructive patterns over and over again no matter how much we try to change. Change is often not possible unless an unconscious destructive pattern is brought into our conscious awareness. From there we are able to make a choice about whether we want to continue repeating the same cycle.

Introductory Assessment

Following an initial free twenty-minute introductory assessment in which you and she can establish whether Roz's approach may be suitable for you, Roz offers one-hour individual sessions. Depending on their commitment and self-awareness many people very soon begin to experience positive change and often require somewhere between six and ten meetings. Of course, some clients may benefit from either a shorter or longer involvement. If you think that Roz may be able to guide you toward a more fulfilled and happier life or you have any queries please do e-mail her directly through the contact page.

Human Givens Approach

Roz's approach to counselling is based around helping clients to identify the potentially destructive unconscious patterns of expectation that arise from our physical and emotional needs (The Human Givens) being out of balance. The principle behind the 'Human Givens' draws on research and understanding from both psychology and neurobiology and suggests that as human beings we all have physical and emotional needs that need to be met in a balanced way.

Take, for example, the physical need for food. Too much causes obesity, too little starvation and even if we eat just the right amount but the wrong type (ie junk food) we will suffer. The physical needs are objective and easy to identify, our emotional needs are much more subjective and therefore easier to overlook.

Our Emotional needs

Our emotional needs are: the need for attention, love, security, autonomy, connection with others, control over our lives and a sense of feeling valued for who we are and what we do. We also need to have a sense of purpose in life, to be challenged and stretched and to have some space for ourselves from time to time.

Almost from the first spark of life our minds develop mental maps to guide us through the perplexities of experience; we find that certain responses work with the challenge in hand, and some do not. We repeat the ones that do, not necessarily because they make us feel good but because they ensure that we survive. In this way we unconsciously build up tracks that become paths and we end up following them regardless, often without even recognising them and often they will take us in a direction or to a place where we really do not want to be; when our lives are out of balance these paths become both the way that we cope and the actual cause of our unhappiness.

Lack of interest or motivation

Lack of interest or motivation, tiredness, irritability, disturbed sleep, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, anger problems, relationship difficulties, depression, panic attacks, phobias, obsessive thoughts, addictions etc are all symptoms of our emotional needs not being met in a balanced way.
Read more about Human Givens Here.

Just like the body your mind has the ability to heal itself

Given the right conditions, the mind, like the body, also has an innate ability to heal itself so that we can reach our true potential. If as individuals we are in any relationship where we experience empathy, feel that we are not being judged and believe that the other person is genuine we will have the ability to reveal unconscious obstacles that lie in the way of us moving forward.

Roz brings together her Humanistic understanding to encourage the right environment for change, her 'Human Givens' knowledge to help clients to identify unmet emotional needs and her wide range of experience gained from further training as well as working in both the NHS and private practice to facilitate a grounded, practical and empathic approach to counselling.