What is Coherence Therapy?
Coherence Therapy is a form of experiential therapy that aims to uncover and change the unconscious beliefs, schemas, and constructs that are causing unwanted symptoms to arise. It rests on the principle of symptom coherence: a symptom persists because it is compellingly necessary according to at least one non-conscious, adaptive emotional learning, a symptom-requiring schema (sometimes called the “emotional truth of the symptom”).
What makes CT different from other therapies that also work with unconscious material is how heavily it relies on coherence as the guiding principle. Many approaches recognize that symptoms can express non-conscious learning, but Coherence Therapy’s distinctive move is its “unprecedented utilization” of symptom coherence to retrieve the exact pro-symptom emotional learning accurately and efficiently, and then unlock and change/unlearn it decisively .
In simple terms, Coherence Therapy helps you find the good reason your brain learned to create the symptom in the first place, and then helps you update that old learning so the symptom is no longer needed. Instead of battling the symptom, you uncover what it has been protecting you from, bring that “emotional truth” into the open, and then create a powerful new experience that proves the old belief isn’t true anymore. When that deeper learning changes, the symptom tends to drop away naturally, without constant effort to manage it
DP/DR Support
Have you ever felt like you're not real? Like the world isn’t real anymore? Like you're watching yourself live your life instead of actually living it? If that’s you, then you may be experiencing DP/DR. I suffered with DP/DR for over a year and have a passion for helping other people navigate their way out of it. DP/DR can be absolutely debilitating, terrifying and hopeless, especially when accompanied by various other symptoms like intrusive thoughts, visual disturbances, tinnitus, bright vision, the world looking 2D or flat, not feeling anything anymore, alongside many more. Many people experiencing DP/DR feel like traditional therapy fails them, and it failed me, too. Many therapists are not even familiar with DP/DR and therefore cannot relate to people experiencing it. Getting support from someone who has personally lived this made all the difference for me, and I hope I can be that person for others
About me
My journey into the world of mental health began as a meditation teacher for one of the largest mental health organisations in the world—HealthyGamer. For three years, I worked with thousands of people across the globe, helping them cultivate calm, presence, and equanimity. My background is in Mahayana Buddhism, and I use various tools from that tradition to help people overcome things like rumination and anxious thinking.
After many years as a mindfulness teacher, I began training with Dr Tori Olds, in experiential therapies such as Internal Family Systems (IFS), Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), and, most importantly, Coherence Therapy. Through this training, I discovered my passion for Coherence Therapy, which eventually led me to pursue official training with the Coherence Therapy Psychology Institute.
My approach tends to be very direct, yet compassionate, working at a pace that is doable and tolerable for the client. Much of therapy/coaching these days has become passive, often leading clients to be frustrated as to what the point is. Coherence Therapy is extremely focused and aims to get to the underlying cause that is necessitating the symptom/symptoms.
Aside from that, I am also a qualified secondary school teacher and former semi-professional athlete (Sprinter). I am deeply passionate about meeting people in their area of struggle, and together, finding a way through to lasting healing.