Person-centred therapy works with the ways in which we perceive ourselves consciously, rather than attempting to interpret our unconscious thoughts, ideas, or imaginings.

A person-centred approach sees us as having an innate tendency to develop towards our full potential using our own resources and supports. However, this ability can become blocked or distorted by our life experiences. This in turn effects our sense of self worth, either by depressing it, or inflating it. Both of these effects cause personal suffering.

Using this understanding I work to understand your experience from your point of view. By positively valuing you as a person in all aspects of your nature, and by being open and genuine, to allow you to feel acceptance and better understand your own feelings. The intention is that this enables you to reconnect with your inner values and balanced sense of self-worth. This reconnection with your own resources enables you to find your way to move forward.

Two powerful things are happening here. You hear yourself express what is important to you and what thoughts and/or actions may be interfering. Then we explore what it is that works for you to free yourself from what is making you unhappy, anxious or unwell.

And if what you find works, you can practice it, because it may be worth it for you.

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

Joseph Campbell, mythologist and writer said “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” A use of metaphor to speak of exploring deeper within oneself to understand how to best be in the world. Very personal and self-specific work.

The week before last I guided a trip into Mystery Creek Cave, on the edge of Tasmania’s South-West wilderness, with a small group of young women and men.

As we talked about the expedition beforehand, and on the walk in, we discovered quite different levels of apprehension about descending into the darkness and the confines of the cave.

The challenge, the fear and excitement, the reason for being there unique in each one of us. Working intentionally with metaphor can be a powerful tool in counselling and psychotherapy, especially in the outdoors in an environment of managed risk.

The walk in through the rainforest.

Inside the cave entrance.

Some tight spaces.

Back at the entrance.

 

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

 

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

 

Some of the work I do is with young people and I am always on the lookout for engaging activities to do with them whilst we talk, and get to know one another.

Mixing counselling with activities, especially play activities, is an approach used by many therapists and counsellors who work with children.

The activities I have used with young people in the outdoors are fishing, cycling, canoeing, surfing, ball games, nature walks, building things with blocks or sticks, kite flying, and perhaps my favourite, looking for treasure in the form of gemstones, and fossils and other interesting things.

These activities are potentially helpful in adventure therapy for adults also. The activity can be the therapy that goes with what you want to talk through.

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

 

 

I have been reading some articles on how too much screen time may be adversely effecting the healthy balance of our lives. And I got to wondering how this discourse connects with my experiences of working with people in the bush.

I am very reticent to turn on a mobile phone, or any other screen device, when I have specifically entered our bush lands with the intention of maximising the benefit of being there.

Why?  Am I some sort of technology hater? A green fundamentalist perhaps?

No. I like technology, and I am a bit green, and other colours as well.

I am simply not wanting any technology to interfere with the purity of the interaction with the natural state of this type of land. So I go there with the bare minimum of accessories. I do not take an extra anything with me. Maybe a coat, a water bottle, a small first aid kit, and my mobile phone turned off in a ziplock bag to keep it dry (in case of an emergency).

What happens when we do this?

Well, good question.

Give it a go, see what happens for you.

If you like let me know how it went in LEAVE A COMMENT.

Link to ABC article touching on this: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-16/camping-for-mental-health/10238198

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

 

 

How does walk and talk adventure therapy work?

My sessions are 1 to 1 .5 hours. We find a mutually agreeable spot that suits your walking pace and ability in a safe outdoor space (around Hobart). We walk and we talk about what it is you would like to explore about yourself and how your life is at the moment. Being outdoors allows for helpful interaction with nature and what is going on around us to add to this therapeutic experience. It can be stimulating, and freeing. Not a distraction from issues, but an appreciation of how what’s happening for you fits into a bigger picture, as well as your internal world.

What if the weather is bad?

Going out in the weather can be part of this process. It’s up to both of us to decide together if the weather is ok. If it’s not ok for the day I have sheltered options or we can reschedule.

Adventure therapy??? All we are doing is walking?

Walking for some is a little adventure, and for some, walking in a natural environment is a big adventure. We can also choose our adventure. I offer canoe paddle, and cycle path sessions as well. Mix it up if you like.

Unexpected helpful adventures can also happen whilst we are in a dynamic outdoor environment. Interactions with nature and what is happening around us value adds to your therapeutic experience.

How safe is it?

My first priority is to establish and maintain a space that is physically and emotionally safe. The locations I use have been risk assessed by me, and I use real time risk/benefit assessment whenever I am working with you. I look for locations that have helpful, gentle nature interactions, with low to moderate people usage to maximise emotional safety.

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania.  Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors.  Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

 

Would you like to stop worrying?

If you find yourself worrying ask yourself:

Is this any of my business?

Does this matter right now?

If it’s important, what can I do?

 

Not worrying, peace of mind, is your birthright.

Like any birthright, you may need to claim it for yourself, and practice the skills that go with it, and stick with these skills through thick and thin.

 

Nick Hall Adventure Therapy

Counselling in Hobart

Contact Nick on 0459 413 198 for an appointment

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania.  Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors.  Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

www.instagram.com/nickhalladventuretherapy/

I was floating around on my surfboard the other day, waiting for a nice shaped wave to come rolling in.

It is the middle of winter here is Tasmania, and the seawater temperature has dropped to 6 degrees celsius. As I get older the decision to go for a surf this time of year has become more challenging than routine. And yet I go, and I have fun, heaps of fun.

I have now been an active surfer for 40 years.

Every time I go for a surf it is a noticeably different experience for me.

How could this be so? I’m doing fairly similar things each time I surf, and often I am surfing in the same place, and yet it is always so different, and it is always fun. Even when I have got cold, or very scared, or have been hassled by unfriendly types sharing the water, it has still been fun.

Sometimes I don’t really expect to have a good time, and I still do, there has always been something in it for me.  I find this astonishing.

And the other thing I love about surfing is sharing the times in the water with others who love it too. Two peak experiences that really stick in my mind are catching big, fast, long, beautifully shaped and powerful waves, and happily sharing the ride on a wave with another, even if I do not know them.

The morning surf check, touched by promise and excitement.

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania.  Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

 

 

A couple of weeks ago we were out in the Nick Hall Adventure Therapy boat looking for a group of humpback whales that had been sighted in Frederick Henry Bay, near Hobart. And we found them. At one moment we had seven whales about our small boat. They were excited to see us, and clearly curious. We were very excited to be there in their presence.

At the peak of this experience two of the whales swam straight toward our boat, diving under at the very last moment, passing less than three meters underneath us. I was struck by the feeling of the pure wildness of the encounter. Here were wild whales, whales that most likely had never seen humans before. It was truly intense for all of us, and I wondered how it was for them.

In my experience there is considerable benefit in this type of exposure to pure wildness. This is an intrinsic part of an adventure therapy experience. This type of counselling in the outdoors, surrounded by wild landscape, and wild animals, is quantitatively and qualitatively different.

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania.  Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

To talk about counselling/therapy options, and to make an appointment, please call me.

Nick Hall – 0459413198 – 9am to 5pm – Monday to Wednesday.

Hobart, Tasmania.

I held my “Carrying Fire” workshop at the recent Australian Association for Bush Adventure Therapy forum at John Marsden’s Candlebark School in Victoria. We made ourselves a safe space for a talking circle about “What is your passion?” As part of our process we lit a little fire outside the room we were in (it was raining!) and a few people at a time tended our fire as the rest of us spoke and listened. To close our circle we carried our fire around some of John’s property then set it down to burn out under a large sheltering gumtree.

Thank you John, AABAT, and all who participated.

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania.  Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.

I was interviewed by Helen Shield on Your Afternoon ABC Radio Hobart about my business and what adventure therapy is, have a listen below:

 

Counsellor Hobart Tasmania. Counselling Hobart Tasmania.  Psychotherapist Hobart Tasmania. Psychotherapy Hobart Tasmania. Therapist Hobart Tasmania. Counselling outdoors. Bush adventure therapy. Somatic psychotherapy. Psychology. Life skills. Coaching. Walk and talk. Psychodynamic. Mindfulness.