Addiction
People come to counselling with addiction for many different reasons. For some, substance use or compulsive behaviours have become unmanageable. For others, there is a growing sense that something important is being lost.
Addiction is often spoken about in terms of stopping, controlling, or managing behaviour. While this can sometimes be part of the picture, it rarely tells the whole story.
Seeing the person, not just the addiction
In my experience, addiction cannot be understood in isolation from the person living with it. Behaviours that become addictive often begin as ways of coping, ways of surviving overwhelming feelings, painful experiences, or a sense of disconnection. Over time, those behaviours can become rigid or harmful, but they are not without meaning.
Focusing only on stopping a behaviour can miss what lies underneath it. Without understanding the person, their history, and the role the addiction has played, change often struggles to last.
Living with addiction
Living with addiction can involve shame, secrecy, and a deep sense of conflict. People often describe feeling divided, wanting things to be different, while also relying on the behaviour to get through day to day.
There may have been many attempts to stop or control the behaviour already. When those attempts don’t hold, people can be left feeling hopeless, judged, or as though they have failed in some way. I don’t see this as failure. I see it as a sign that something important hasn’t yet been understood.
How I work with addiction
My work with addiction is grounded in understanding the person, not just the behaviour. Rather than starting from the question of how to stop, I’m interested in what the addiction has made possible, what it has protected against, and what sits beneath it. I believe this creates the conditions for meaningful change.
This approach is shaped by both my professional experience and my own personal familiarity with these struggles. That combination has shown me that lasting change is more likely to come through being understood as a human being, rather than being treated as a problem to be fixed.
I also have professional knowledge around risk, safety, and medical detox pathways, which informs how carefully and responsibly I work in this area.
What this work can involve
Working with addiction may involve understanding the role the behaviour has played, exploring what the addiction has helped manage or contain, paying attention to inner conflict around change, and gradually finding other ways of meeting those needs.
An invitation
If addiction is something you’re struggling with, you’re welcome to get in touch for an initial conversation.