Ship Psychology: How I Work

Three Brains, Not One | The Ship Inside Your Head | Counseling Techniques | Expertise & Specialities

You are a unique human being. Sure, there are billions of us, yet how you experience yourself, your mind, body, thoughts, feelings, memories and life in general, is unique to you. So it stands to reason that your counseling sessions are tailored to you, too.

This means I don’t follow a fixed, predetermined protocol, but rather I adjust the path of your counseling route to your goals, your needs, and your progress along the way. While every route is different and there is no fixed order, in counseling I focus on these three steps:

Understanding

When you know what is going on, it's easier to recognise how you can change that.

Processing

When memories, emotions or beliefs keep coming and don't let up, they need help settling.

Gaining Grip

Change happens when you act on it. In doing, you gain a better hold on yourself and your life.

The basis of these three steps as well as Ship Psychology in general, is the fact that, neurologically speaking, we humans have three brains rather than just one. And they have to work together to keep you safe, just like the crew of a ship in a storm.

To show how our thoughts, feelings and actions can work with – or quite often, against – each other, I created The Ship Inside Your Head. It’s more than a model, too. When you get to know your Crew and learn to recognise them in daily life, you have a lifelong tool to improve your mental health, anytime and in any situation.

Three Brains, Not One

We all experience those frustrating mismatches between what we think, feel and do:

Wanting to plan something but lacking focus and overview.
Being unable to make a simple decision
Telling yourself things you don’t really believe.
Believing things you know aren’t true.
Being angry and scared at the same time, and berating yourself for feeling that way.
Indulging in food, drink and other diversions when you know you shouldn’t…
…the list goes on and on.

The reason for those mismatches becomes clearer when you realise that every person has THREE brains, not just one. Each of these brains has their own tasks and responsibilities in making sure we are coping with what goes on in our body and our life…

…just like the Crew of a Ship want to keep their vessel afloat and on course in a storm.

The Ship Inside your Head

Each brain – each Crew Member – has their own qualities, weaknesses, and their own way to interpret and respond to the world around us. When working together, these three unique voices define our personality.

When Your Crew Doesn’t Work Together…

Different as they are, our Crew doesn’t always get along. When they fight one another, our thoughts, feelings and behaviour contradict each other. Instead of confident and determined, we become frustrated, anxious, and disappointed. In short, we experience stress.

Stress is a inevitable part of life, but left unresolved and unaddressed, it can begin to fester. Over time, prolonged stress can cause anxiety, depression, and worse.

The bottom of this funnel is where I spent 20 years of my life, and I know from experience that even that hopeless situation can turn around!

Counseling: My Expertise & Specialities

Neurodiversity

This is an umbrella term for ADHD, ASD, high-sensitivity and high intelligence (also known as gifteness). When you process information and sensory input a little differently than most people do, the standard solutions and treatments may not have the effect you were hoping for. Being neurodiverse myself, I have tons of experience with the unique challenges this brings, the immense variation of how people experience neurodiversity, and how to find solutions that work for you in your particular situation.
Mental Resillience

You've got your life more or less under control, but there is something that has made things difficult of late. Maybe it's something at work or something happened in a personal relationship. You want to feel stronger in such situations, able to bounce back and feel confident about whatever life throws at you. Not just now, but from now on. Learning to work with your Ship helps you do exactly that.
Personal Purpose & Effectiveness

When it's hard to tell what you want, want you're good at, what you want to do, it's hard to set priorities, make decisions and take action. Whether this happens daily with small things like tasks at work, or you are struggling to find your feet after a big change in your life, counseling helps you find clarity of mind.

Stress & Burn-out

Stress reactions are essential to our survival...until they become too much, last too long, and cause more problems than their benefits are worth. Sometimes you can trace your stress to a specific source or event. But sometimes it has been there for so long, you have no idea why you still feel so tense, or what you can do to feel better. When overthinking can't help you understand what is going on, the Ship can.
Fear & Anxiety

Fear protects us, but too much for too long leaves you mentally paralysed yet terribly restless and anxious. Anxiety makes it hard to think, so even though you know you have nothing to fear, you don't feel safe and you can't seem to convince yourself otherwise. The Ship helps you to get a hold on those slippery fears and alleviate or even dissolve them.
Depressive Moods

You feel down, listless, are easily agitated and you tire quickly. You may feel scared, hopeless, even worthless. Or you may feel nothing at all, just a horrible emptiness. Going for a walk or "just smile" don't help at all, but it's difficult to see what would help. But a part of you knows, a part that is difficult to hear through the gloom. Counseling can help you find that connection again, and from there find your way out of the dark.

If you have a problem or question that you aren’t sure fits a category, send me a message or book a free call, and we can have a look together. If what you need exceeds my expertise, I will help you determine what or who would be a better fit for you, and where you can find it.

Counseling Techniques

Ship Psychology is a unique combination of elements from therapeutical interventions from different psychological approaches. In counseling, I use various coaching techniques, as well as:

…and of course the Ship Inside Your Head.

Most of these are smoothly interwoven into our conversations, although you may recognise them if you have had therapy before. Techniques like IEMT, EMDR and more immersive visualisation exercises are always announced, discussed and only applied with your explicit consent.

I continuously strive to make your experience with counseling a positive one. Challenges and moments when you feel uncomfortable are unavoidable and very important parts of the process, but so is feeling heard, seen and understood. Providing a safe space for you to confront what is bothering you and heal what needs healing, that is my goals as counselor.