Maggie’s fee is €80 per session
Maggie works with clients aged 20 years and over.
Counselling Training and Accreditation
Maggie qualified as a Psychotherapist in 2006, with a BA(Hons) in Psychotherapy and Counselling with Dublin Business School (DBS). Her background is in Science, but after qualifying as a psychotherapist, Maggie completed further training in the area of addiction and holds a Diploma in Drugs Counselling and Intervention Skills from University College Dublin (UCD).
Maggie has a particular interest in Eating Disorders, specifically working with Binge Eating Disorder and Bulimia only. She studied Human Nutrition and Dietetics in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Kevin St, in the 1980’s. She also holds a Diploma in Eating Disorders from the National Centre of Eating Disorders in the UK.
More recently, Maggie has qualified with a post graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), from Queen’s University Belfast. She also holds a Diploma in Suicidology and a Post Graduate Certificate in Sexual Violence from the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre.
She is an accredited member of both the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) and the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP).
Counselling and Psychotherapeutic Approach
Maggie works mainly as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) therapist which she describes as follows:
CBT is based on a series of principles starting with Beck’s Cognitive Triad (1976) which states that an individual may be prone to negative thinking about the self, others and the future. Beck suggested that thinking is underpinned by attitudes (assumptions) which are based in early childhood experiences and later life events. Everyone has a predisposition to react in certain ways in certain situations and this is bases on genetics, environment, early upbringing and life events.
CBT differs from other forms of therapy in some significant ways. If you are deciding whether CBT may be right for you, you may find it helpful to have an idea of what to expect in a typical course of treatment. The first Session is mainly Assessment Case Conceptualisation), it is a chance for you to explain what you are struggling with and why. Assessment Psychometric Questionnaires will be carried out depending on which specific anxiety disorder or depressed mood the client is presenting with when they come to therapy.
After the Assessment session treatment begins, this when you begin working on the problems unlike traditional talk therapy where much of the time is spent talking about them. Each session of CBT follows the same structure to ensure the most effective use of time. The session begins with brief check in, followed by a review of the previous session and homework. After this the therapist and client set the agenda and the rest of the session is spent targeting agenda items.
Research shows that therapy is significantly more effective when homework is carried out, as it is critical for therapeutic change. In support, several studies mostly regarding depression and anxiety show a positive correlation between homework adherence and treatment outcome.(Kazantzis, Deane & Ronan (2002.)
Finally Behavioural Experiments are the most powerful methods for bringing about change in CBT. They are planned experiential activities based on experimentation or observation which are undertaken by clients in or between therapy sessions.
Their plan is taken directly from a cognitive formulation of the problem and their main purpose is to obtain new information which will help to test the validity of the client’s beliefs about themselves, others and the world and to construct new more adaptive beliefs.
Paul Salkovskis (1996); ‘the most effective way of changing a misinterpretation is to help the person come up with an alternative less threatening interpretation of his/her experience’
Counselling Experience and Areas of Interest
Maggie has worked with the Peter McVerry Trust in the Residential Treatment Centre and with the Dublin Simon Community’s Detox Unit. She has particular interest in working with the following Anxiety Disorders: Panic Attacks with or with agoraphobia, Health Anxiety, Eating Disorders (Binge Eating and Bulimia), Social Anxiety, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
Other areas of interest are mild to moderate Depression, Self-Esteem, Relationship issues, Suicide Ideation, Self-harm and Bereavement.
