I am excited to introduce my therapist, Scott Gilliam.  Scott will be a regular contributor of insightful articles for Nish’s Niche readers.  If you have questions or a suggestion for a topic he should write about, please leave a comment below…

A Companion on the Journey

 Scott D. Gilliam, PhD, LMFT

Psychotherapy isn’t just for the wounded or those who are struggling with mental illness, it is for everyone who wants to do more than survive in life but choose to thrive, to uncover their inner strength and vulnerabilities and improve self-knowledge in a personal quest.

A Psychotherapist is more than just a clinician, but is best thought of as akin to something like a shaman, or healer, a confessional priest or spiritual friend. Indeed, in our culture today, the Therapist plays a similar function. In Depth Psychology, for example, the Therapist is a companion on the journey into the mysteries of one’s psyche or soul.

Life can be a meaningful journey, an existential dance in the search for meaning or a response to an inner deep spiritual or creative urge or calling. Life transitions, traumas and our own difficulties act as catalysts being on this quest for the individuation process, as Carl Jung calls it. We are called to become more whole, and integrated beings, armed with greater vulnerability and self-knowledge that we can create the lives that we want.

In my practice I call therapy Soul-tending, because I provide a refuge against the harshness of life where we can tend to our hearts and deepen our understanding of the wisdom that lies in the things that challenge us. A Psychotherapist can be a valuable companion through life’s journey in general because he or she is invested in the relationship for your own purposes, to help you find your own deep answers and new questions to the dilemmas of life. A therapist puts their whole focus into helping accompany you into the goals that you desire, whether they are healing, self-knowledge, breaking free of obstacles to goals and help in clarifying them, or individuation and self-actualization.

Psychotherapy can be a place to find solace and comfort, healing and insight, and regeneration in the Journey of our Life and its growing vision.

Learn more about Scott and his practice on his site.