South Devon Psychotherapy
Mindfulness Based Core Process Psychotherapy
Welcome
My name is Mark Shanagher and I am a senior trainee psychotherapist in private practice on Dartington Estate, Totnes.
Core Process Psychotherapy combines a spiritual understanding of the self with western psychodynamic theory to facilitate an enquiry into oneself.
Psychotherapy helps us to:
-
Gain more clarity to see how it is that we relate to our experience.
-
Identify the blocks that interfere with our innate, healthy expression.
-
Feel assisted and accompanied in learning how to be present with what we find difficult.
-
Foster self-acceptance, self-understanding and self-compassion.
-
Develop a centring in oneself and a more unified and resourced sense of self.
I offer a free first meeting to be able to get a feel for each other in person and address any questions you might have.
In a welcoming, safe space, you are invited to bring your problems, desires, pains and shames to be seen, heard, met and understood.
Depth psychotherapy is a process in which we bring awareness to the immediate experience, to the subtle inner processes, sensations, feelings, thoughts and beliefs, and explore how these are being expressed in and through our body. In slowing down and bringing an increased curiosity to our inner workings, while receiving support and validation, we develop self-acceptance. Acceptance of what is being experienced allows us, in our own time, to reveal the hidden and protected parts of ourselves and begin to dare to be seen.
We understand that we are inherently already free but have obscured this with all of our protective measures and coping strategies. While these strategies have a natural intelligence that has supported us and kept us safe, these conditioned responses and habitual ways of responding can inhibit us from being our natural and spontaneous self. Over time, they can become our character and way of life.
The therapeutic relationship enables us to slowly uncover these and understand them as the supportive and protective measures that they are. Rather than trying to rid ourselves of behaviours, we are inquisitive and loving as we journey to meet and understand ourselves. Seeing ourselves more clearly, we develop compassion and begin to free ourselves from habituated reactions, becoming more able to respond to life with greater depth and availability of our self.
Mindfulness Based Core Process Psychotherapy is a psychodynamic, somatic and transpersonal practice. It has been taught by the Karuna Institute since 1982. It draws on Buddhist Psychology and it's sublime understanding of the self alongside western psychotherapeutic practice, including object relations, attachment theory, character development and pre and peri-natal territory. The Karuna Institute are one of the founding members of the UKCP.
Coming To Therapy
There are times that are difficult for all of us in life and times that are not. People can come to psychotherapy for help when the reason for distress is clear. Likewise people can also come when the problem is not so clear but there is a feeling inside that something is not quite right.
People also come to psychotherapy when they have a desire for a greater sense of awareness about themselves. This can be a profound support for one’s growth and maturation as a person.
My approach is collaborative and relational. I am interested in working with you to explore how it is that you ‘do’ you, in what your experience is and in how you might begin to express and experience yourself differently.
I have seen how transformation can take place in a setting of compassion, acceptance and non-judgemental listening, and value these qualities in our working relationship.
​
Choosing to start, it is important to feel safe with the therapist you choose to work with.
I offer a free forty minute meeting for us to be able to get a feel for each other, discuss what brings you to therapy, what you hope to achieve and to answer any questions you may have. I will then advise some time to reflect on our meeting to see if it feels right for you.
After that, if we choose to work together, we will work for an agreed initial period of six weeks, which will give you a chance to get a feel for my work and our relationship. We will review this and decide if we would like to continue to work together for an on-going period.
Psychotherapy sessions are held weekly, at the same time and in the same place.
Fees are £45 for weekly one hour sessions.
"The trauma happened in relationship, so the healing must happen in relationship."
Maura Sills
About Mark
I am a member of the UKCP (United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists) and ACPP (Association of Core Process Psychotherapists) and am currently working as a senior trainee psychotherapist with the Karuna Institute. I am an insured practitioner, and am in regular professional supervision. I am also in depth psychotherapy.
I have a background as a Professional Herbalist in Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. I am also informed by many years of study and practice in the shamanic indigenous healing traditions of the Americas. I have a Diploma in Sustainable Horticulture and a Philosophy Degree.
I have a passion in pre and peri-natal work and early years developmental trauma, as well as in the integration of peak experiences from psychedelic journeys.
I see clients in my private practice on Dartington Estate, Totnes.
​
.png){kind=logo}
