Introduction
Hello, I am Farah Tiwana, a mental health professional with diverse experience in the therapeutic modalities of humanistic counselling, CBT, EMDR and psychodynamic principles.
My personal philosophy towards mental health is that we all function on a spectrum of wellness, that mental health difficulties are usually understandable responses to life experiences and circumstances and that making meaning/sense of these difficulties and the experiences contributing to them is as important for healing as managing distress and day to day symptom coping.
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Qualifications
MSc Mental Health Studies
Masters in Mental Health Studies from King’s College London.
Level 3 Certificate in Humanistic Counselling
Certificate in humanistic counselling by Counselling & Psychotherapy Awarding Body CPCAB (UK).
CBT Essentials
CBT Essentials including CBT for Depression and CBT for Anxiety from Beck Institute, USA.
EMDR Levels 1 and 2
EMDR Levels 1 and 2 EMDR Asia and Europe
Self-State Practitioner
BPS Approved Certificate in Working with Self States Greenwood Mentors, UK
Clinical Trauma Specialist
Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist for Individuals, Trauma Institute International/Arizona Trauma Institute, USA
Experience
November 2014 to Present
Consultation Fee
EMDR Sessions (In-person): 4K PKR
Talk Therapy Sessions: 5K PKR per session
Online (only for clients based outside Pakistan): GBP 20 or equivalent.
What you can expect from working with me:
I aim to be an empathetic and attuned therapist, co-creating a space for reflection, catharsis and exploration with clients. I believe that therapy can be uncomfortable and challenging as we work together to address sources of pain, and I aim to ensure emotional and psychological safety for clients when confronting heavy or particularly difficult material. I offer 15 minute free of charge consultation calls online to help potential clients decide if they’d like to book a therapy session. These can be arranged when you contact me over email.
Introduction to Offered Services
1. Talk therapy, that is an integration of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), Humanistic Approaches and Psychodynamic Approaches.
2. EMDR, Trauma therapy (PTSD, Complex PTSD, Childhood Emotional Trauma and other Adverse Childhood Experiences)
3. Therapy for Emotional Regulation Difficulties (including BPD, emotional eating), therapy for Anxiety Disorders (not including OCD) and Major Depression.
Note: I only work with individual adult clients aged 18 to 35 years.
Farah’s take on Therapy
Literature inspired me to become a therapist. I was fascinated by people’s motivations, choices and internal worlds through the books I enjoyed reading growing up.
My personal philosophy towards mental health is that we all function on a spectrum on wellness, that mental health difficulties are usually understandable responses to life experiences and circumstances (from RD Laing and from The Power Threat Meaning Framework) and that making meaning/sense of these difficulties and the experiences contributing to them is as important for healing as managing distress and day to day symptom coping. I believe there is no timeframe and no standard way of healing. Each person’s journey is different. I believe all clients are capable of attaining degrees of healing, despite their difficulties. There is no “going back” but there are ways forward when emotions and experiences are processed.
I enjoy working with young adult clients as they navigate the transition from late adolescence into adulthood, moving into a space of greater autonomy and self responsibility. As parentification and childhood emotional trauma are fairly common experiences within the Pakistani cultural context, young adulthood is a period where people can finally process these adversities with greater physical, emotional and economic independence. This allows them to break generational patterns and find newer, healthier ways of being and experiencing that integrate emotional realities, bodily experiences, thought processes and all other ways of ‘being in the world’.