An embodied, relational approach to psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is an opportunity to become curious about our experience — how we have come to understand ourselves, how we relate to others and how we respond to what happens in our lives.
Grounded in the human condition
Psychotherapy recognises the complexity of being human. Our experiences, relationships and ways of responding are shaped over time, often in ways that are outside conscious awareness. A trauma-informed and relational approach holds this complexity with care, curiosity and compassion.
Embodied experience
Paying attention to embodied experience can help us notice what is happening beneath familiar patterns and develop a greater capacity to stay present with ourselves.
Attachment and developmental experience
Our earliest relationships shape how we experience ourselves and others. Experiences of connection, safety, attunement, rupture and repair can continue to influence how we relate to ourselves and the world around us.
Trauma and protection
Trauma is not what happens to you, it is what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you.— Gabor Maté
When experiences are overwhelming, unsafe or lack sufficient connection and repair, the nervous system can develop ways of protecting us. These adaptations can remain active long after the original context has changed, shaping how we feel, relate and respond in the present.
Meaning and coherence
We are constantly making meaning of our experiences. Over time, these meanings can become familiar stories about ourselves, others and the world. Exploring these stories can help us understand how they have shaped the way we live, relate and respond — and whether they still serve us now.
Approaches that inform the practice
Psychotherapy Practice draws on a range of therapeutic approaches, including:
Existential psychotherapy
Explores the human condition with a curious, playful and attentive approach to our evolving relationship with ourselves, others and the world around us. It considers meaning, choice, responsibility, values and the shifting contexts in which we live, with an emphasis on living authentically and our process of becoming.
Compassionate Inquiry®
Explores the unconscious dynamics, hidden assumptions, implicit memories and body states that shape our experience. Through curiosity and compassion, it seeks to drill down to the core stories we tell ourselves and understand where they came from.
Attachment-informed EMDR
Supports the processing and integration of experiences that continue to affect us in the present, with particular attention to attachment, relationships and developmental experience.
Mindful Self-Compassion
Mindful Self-Compassion is the practice of attending to our feelings without judgement and responding with kindness when we suffer. Self-compassion can soften self-loathing, shame and feelings of worthlessness, while supporting greater self-soothing and emotional capacity. When we are kinder to ourselves, we have more capacity to be kind to others.
About Jonelle Patton
Jonelle is a Registered Clinical Psychotherapist with almost three decades of experience supporting individuals and couples across diverse cultural and professional contexts.
Jonelle holds a Master of Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling (New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling, London). Her professional training includes Compassionate Inquiry® Professional Training and Mentorship, Attachment-Informed EMDR, Mindful Self-Compassion, Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Diploma in Drug Dependence. She continues to engage in professional development across trauma, attachment, somatic and relational psychotherapy approaches.
Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) Clinical Registrant No. 2242
CLINICAL SUPERVISION Alongside her psychotherapy practice, Jonelle provides clinical supervision for practitioners. Focused on enhancing and expanding therapeutic skills, supervision offers a supportive and reflective space to explore clinical practice, ethical considerations, therapeutic relationships and professional development.