Kind Counselling

About Gina Bloom

Psychotherapist | Somatic Experiencing Practitioner | Counsellor

In many ways my journey has come full circle, coming back to working with people directly, after many years working in the field of mental health.

Initially, I trained as an academic with a background in myth and literature. Then, after a 20 year career in the mental health and wellbeing field as a researcher and project evaluator in universities and as a medical and social researcher in private practice, I turned my long-standing interest in healing and personal development into my main focus, and retrained as a psychotherapist and later as a somatic experiencing practitioner (SEP ... or trauma resolution therapist).

Having observed the workings of the pharmaceutical industry and academic medical training from the inside, I became increasingly aware of the limitations of these approaches to wellbeing and personal development, and of the need for a more holistic approach.

Although medications can, and certainly do, sometimes have their place in a healing journey, there is more to real healing than they alone can provide.

Training, qualifications and other related work.

Through my initial training (in my 20s) as a Voice Dialogue Facilitator, by becoming a Transpersonal Psychotherapist, by teaching other transpersonal counselors and art therapists), and then by training as a trauma resolution therapist (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner - SEP) I have discovered effective and empowering ways of helping people to emerge as healed, integrated, individuals.

Currently, in addition to being a therapist in private practice, I continue to develop my interest, skills and capacities in several ways:

• Through my work on the Path of Love process, in which I am the Australian Organiser, an assistant facilitator (and one of the process DJs!);


• By having served on the Australian Association of Holistic and Transpersonal Counselors (AAHTC) Executive;


• By having lectured in both the Transpersonal Counselling & Art Therapy streams at the Phoenix Institute of


• Australia (now IKON Institute)


• And by continuing my own self-exploration and further training as an ongoing student of the Diamond Approach to Inner Work.

…. These are just some of the threads I currently draw into my clinical practice, helping me to support you through what brings you to therapy, and to a healing outcome. It is a great source of joy to me to work together with clients to help find a richer, more integrated, happier and more peaceful experience of life.

Academic qualifications

• Transpersonal Counselor (Phoenix Institute of Australia),


• Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP) (Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, USA - the Peter Levine Institute),


• Voice Dialogue Facilitator (Voice Dialogue Australia),


• B.A. Hons (University of Sydney: University Medal in English Literature),


• M. Phil (University of Cambridge, UK: with Distinction)


• Postgraduate Certificate in Data Analysis (Statistical Computing) (UNSW),


• Cert IV in Training and Assessment.

Member of

• Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute (SETI)


• International Institute for Complementart Therapists (IICT)


• United States Association of Body Psychotherapists (USABP)

Services

Kind Counselling - List of Services:

The kinds of issues and considerations I work with most frequently include:

• General counselling


• Anxiety / panic attacks / difficulty relaxing or letting go


• Depression


• Identity issues


• Sex and sexuality


• Accumulated stress


• All kinds of trauma


• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)


• Grief, and issues associated with loss, death and dying


• Managing change, and uncertainty


• Major life issues and transitions, including loss, and uncertainty (for example in relationships, family, work and career, health)

Additional specialisations:

• Adolescents


• Couples' counselling


• Queer / GLBTI


• Miscarriage / loss in pregnancy, including in early pregnancy


• Aging and Menopause


• Psychosis (especially first-time episodes)

I also offer group work, weekend workshops and evening sharing circles.

Transpersonal Psychotherapy and Holistic Counselling Melbourne

There’s nothing wrong with you and you don’t need to be fixed.

Rather than see you as someone with something ‘wrong’ with you, someone who needs to be ‘fixed’, I offer a more sophisticated perspective and approach that:

Helps acknowledge and respect the choices (conscious and unconscious) that you’ve had to make in the past, and,
Helps you to develop a profound and authentic self-acceptance based on a capacity to make more conscious, supportive choices.

What is transpersonal psychotherapy? How does it help?

One of the mainstays of transpersonal psychotherapy is that it recognizes that personal dilemmas are often greater than the individual. This means that, where relevant, we can explore particular concerns in the context of your personal and family history, trans-generational histories, or as universal human experiences.

I can help you to develop mature compassion and empathy for yourself and the aspects of your life that have led you to seek help.

Somatic Psychotherapy & Trauma Counselling

Somatic Experiencing (SE)

The definition of “trauma” includes a wide range of experience: whether accidents or personal attacks; physical, emotional or sexual abuse; and also developmental or attachment (early childhood) trauma.

Primary or secondary trauma can also affect people who have witnessed trauma or even the aftermath of trauma. It may also affect those who work with clients who have experienced trauma, and who do not themselves have access to regular, effective trauma release therapy.

By utilising the tools and understanding of Somatic Experiencing I can help you resolve trauma, even complex trauma such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

'Accumulated stress', which many people experience, and which may not involve an actual 'trauma' as such, can also be successfully managed using an SE approach.

What is Somatic Experiencing (SE)? How does it help heal trauma and PTSD?

Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing and author of Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, says: “trauma here … trauma where?”, meaning that with effective therapy, the awful experience of living with trauma can be corrected.

There is increasing scientific evidence to show that the effects of trauma can be resolved so that individuals who have suffered trauma can be taught to easily and permanently develop a sense of safety and resilience, in which the debilitating associations of trauma are actually reversed.

The patterning of the original trauma acts like a domino effect. And so once the primary trauma is attended to, you may also actually resolve a whole host of other smaller traumas, meaning you are likely to end up feeling much better, overall, than you’ve ever felt before, not just after a session but permanently.

Many people who have experienced attack or accidents are aware that they suffer from the impacts of trauma. They may have had some trauma therapy, such as (cognitive behavioural therapy) CBT-based treatment, or even talk-based counselling, and found that they experienced some temporary, short or even medium–term relief.

However it can be very distressing, and depressing, if the underlying feelings and ramifications are nor addressed and resolved. You may feel hopeless, and that you are ‘stuck’ with these feelings for life, but that is not necessarily the case.

SE addresses the underlying causes of suffering from trauma by addressing the neurophysiology the created the symptoms of trauma in the first place.

Specialist Psychotherapy and Counselling Services

I provide:

• Individual and couples counseling and psychotherapy (short, medium term, and long-term),


• Trauma resolution (including PTSD) / Somatic Experiencing Experiencing / SE, for shock trauma and abuse, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), as well as attachment or developmental trauma, and managing accumulated stress and associated anxiety and depression


• Group-based processes, such as facilitated sharing groups and various workshops.

I also have a special interest in the following:

• Loss in Pregnancy counselling, and healing rituals, to help process loss in pregnancy, including in early pregnancy.


• Psychosis / spiritual emergency supporting people diagnosed within the spectrum of 'psychoses'.

To make an appointment at Kind Counselling in inner Melbourne, please contact me directly on 0404 093 865 or send an email enquiry.