Helping People Create Successful and Rewarding Love Relationships: In Conversation with Vivian Baruch

We recently interviewed Australia Counselling member Vivian Baruch of www.vivianbaruch.com about her approach to counselling and psychotherapy.

Vivian has a passion for helping people create successful and rewarding love relationships and has been doing so for over 30 years.

Here’s what she had to say…

Tell us who you work with and the counselling and therapy services you offer

I’m a relationship coach, counsellor and therapist working with individuals & couples since 1981. I practice in Newtown, close to the Sydney CBD & Faulconbridge, close to Springwood NSW. I’m also a CAPA and PACFA certified supervisor and have been supervising professionals for over a decade.

How did you become interested in counselling and working as a psychotherapist?

I’ve had a passion for understanding what makes human relationships enriching and fulfilling since I was a teenager. As our lives revolve around relationships with others, whether at home, at work or with friends, I’ve been involved in a life-long process of learning to help myself and others do the hard work that it takes to bring about successful and rewarding love and work relationships.

How do you believe people change and what supports long-lasting change?

I believe people change by being supported to connect with our own internal strengths and to set clear goals for ourselves and our lives. Once we can clearly identify what we want for ourselves and our relationships and clarify small achievable steps we can take to bring this about, we are more motivated to do the difficult work to move steadily towards these goals. Change is not easy for anyone, including us, and I believe as counsellors our role is to support our clients in the steps they need to take to bring about the changes they want. We cannot do their work for them, something I’m often repeating 🙂

Tell us about your approach and why you believe the way you work is effective in helping people change

I believe my approach is effective as I use a feedback tool in every session which tracks two things:

1. My client’s assessment about how our work is impacting their lives.
2. My client’s relationship with me.

I always ask for them to guide me in my work with them & to give me feedback  on whether they feel heard and understood by me, whether I focused on what they wanted to discuss with me and whether my approach in that session worked for them. I ask them to rate me in every session using a research-based tool. My work is a combination of my training over the last 30 years coupled with my life experience of living and working in different cultures and sub-cultures.

As a 60 year old, my aim is to be flexible in my work so I adapt to my clients to help them clarify how best to use our sessions. I believe they are the experts in their lives and are coming to me for a different type of conversational experience, a more empowering one, than they usually have with their partners, family and friends. This is my aim in every session, not just the initial one.

On a personal note, tell us something that you’re passionate about or love to do in your spare time

I’ve been a practitioner of yoga and meditation since the late 1970’s so mindfulness is a key focus in both my personal and professional life. Since 2004 I’ve also incorporated regular strength training into my self-care programme, which has involved both a challenges and triumphs in building my physical, emotional and psychological strength. I believe this helps me model the changes I’m encouraging my clients to make.

Gardening is a newly-found passion and I love seeing the transformation in my surroundings as I look out over my Blue Mountains native garden.

If you would like to book an appointment with Vivian, you can visit her Australia Counselling profile or visit her website.