Joana Pancada Counselling
My Approach
We all fell stuck sometimes in our lives, often not knowing what we want, what we feel, and whom to talk to.
I have been a psychotherapist for the past 16 years. We all experience times in our lives where things become too painful, yet we do not know how to productively change our circumstances.
At certain times, we can find it is easy to understand why we feel the way we feel because of a significant life event, such as a break up of a relationship, death of a love one, change of jobs or country.
However, sometimes we really cannot quite pinpoint what actually is going on, and why we do not feel sufficiently happy and content with our lives. We can even have a feeling of being lost, not knowing where to go or what to do. Person-centered therapy will help us to focus on our individual inner process, to profoundly understand our own perspective, and to develop a deep awareness of what really is going in our lives at this particular moment.
A non-judgmental environment creates the perfect atmosphere for exploring difficult feelings with a therapist who accepts the way we are, while providing guidance to deal whatever life throws at you. To see new possibilities in life, we need to uncover our needs and wants that are somehow hidden inside us. To focus inside ourselves is often the first step to understand what we really want in life.
In addition to my education and training, I bring my life personal experience to my work. I consider myself an experientialist, so I always try to grow as a person and a therapist. I have found arts to be a source of inspiration and inner strength.
We all have the ability to find new possibilities in ourselves to deal with the challenges of life.
About Me
Joana Pancada holds a Master of Psychotherapy Research, specialising in Experiential Focusing, from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. This degree is recognised by the British Association of Counselors and Psychotherapists (BACP). She also holds a BA in person-centered counselling from the University of Brighton, England.
Joana has worked as a psychotherapist and led therapy groups in Brighton, London, Barcelona and Lisbon. She has designed and offered numerous personal development workshops, including “The Use of Self”, “Focusing, Here and Now,” “Nature as therapy,” “Focusing Your Body’s Knowledge”, "'Mindfulness", "How emotions work", "How to cope with shame and guilt", and "How do we create meaning."
Joana wrote a full therapeutic program for a private clinic and a DBT skills course that she still uses in her practice.
Her approach is practical and humanistic.
Individual Therapy
We all have answers for our own dilemmas in life. Therapy helps the individual to focus on their inner process and on how to deal with problems and worries in life. One of the goals is to explore our feelings and becoming aware of different possibilities and perspectives. Sometimes, we really need to look deeper within ourselves to go beyond a single perspective, idea, ideal, or even belief, to see a completely different set of possibilities. I offer a range of different therapeutic tools and always give my clients homework. This is because therapy does not end with the session.
Couples Therapy
Sometimes we feel that the communication starts to break down in a love relationship. The needs and wants start to change, but love is still there, so to be able to reach the other half we need some help. The therapist can create the right environment for the intimate conversation become alive again. Sometimes, is not what we say, but instead the way we say it. Couples therapy is a way to reestablish a deep understanding between the two individuals. During each session we will try to delve deeper into the relation and its challenges, to rediscover the love that brought the couple together.
Group Therapy
We sometimes feel alone with our own feelings. When we work in a group, a feeling of belonging is often experienced, and empathic emotions start to emerge, when we realize that we all undergo difficult life experiences in slightly different ways, but we are all together in the same boat. Working in a group makes us feel more keenly aware of our own self as well as relationships we have with others. To learn how to sign up for an upcoming workshop, please visit my Facebook page.
