Stephen van Beek MA (Tripos), CMC, DCTP, Member CAPT

My Training Background

I have had a long and varied professional training centred on psychodynamic theory. My therapy work generally includes the analysis of core life patterns and the development of creative ways to overcome them in practical daily life, as well as psychodrama, and somatic work through the use of trance.

My evolution as a psychotherapist is intimately connected with my personal learning curve from a classically oriented liberal-arts education through a world of practical business life into a realm in which the mind and psyche express themselves informally and spontaneously.

My primary education was in literature and philosophy. I was especially interested in mythography and symbolic language. I taught philosophy and literature for some years at university.

In my twenties I worked in an educational research institute on a project that sought to re-engage young adults into the mainstream using innovative technologies.

On the heels of that experience I worked for many years in the practical world of business as a management consultant, a partial antidote to the ivory tower thinking that pervades contemporary education. I regard my practical experience in business as an asset in understanding how we act both in our own interest, and against it.

I am fortunate to have been able to develop two aspects of the mind, both thinking and feeling. There have been times when it was unclear to me exactly where I was heading, the path muddled and unclear. This is typical in the work we do.

My sole reason for embarking on a long-term intensive psychotherapy training program was to be able to live my own life with more purpose and pleasure. At the urging of some of my teachers I undertook to work with one or two individuals whose backgrounds made me appear a good fit, and before I knew it I found myself with a busy practice.

After a few more years of juggling my ordinary work as a consultant I came to realize that my life-path lay primarily within psychotherapy, and I have been mostly engaged in this work ever since.

I list Depression and Creativity as areas of special interest. Many people who are viewed by others or see themselves as depressed turn out to be not so much depressed as distressed by the difficulties in fully expressing their creative abilities. I have had the good fortune to work with many creative personalities, both within and outside the arts, and have developed some interesting and useful ways of helping those with creative issues unravel their 'balls of string' and get their potential more focused. As expressive freedom increases, the symptoms of 'depression' decrease.

My special interest in Daseinsanalysis and Self-Psychology stems from their capacity to help us understand how we may develop a personal stance that is not flooded by the normalizing codes of socially ordained language and behaviour.

Daseinsanalysis hearkens back to the classical tradition within philosophy and those whose responses to life are both feeling and reflective will benefit greatly from considering its understandings. Its creator, Martin Heidegger, has had a profound influence on the thinkers of the last 75 years, from philosophy through communications theory, politics, sociology and environmentalism.

Self-Psychology is based on the notion that each of us develops a personal way of facing the challenges of existence, and these ways need to be understood within the unique context of our inter-subjective challenges rather than be compared to some ideal behaviour pattern that does not exist except in mathematical abstractions.

I have always been interested in the relationship between the mind and the body. The relationship between the mind and the body continues to fascinate me. In this frantic modern world we often lose the capacity to understand how our psyche is speaking to us through the medium of the body, and regard our body as being unwell when in fact it is often wiser than our mind and is trying to let us know about moods, feelings and thoughts that we need to bring to full consciousness.

I use Trance as a useful modality to help clients get in touch with their bodily consciousness and teach it as skill that can be used independently to increase personal awareness.

I am committed to advancing public awareness of the many benefits of the psychodynamic approach to psychotherapy as a fundamental route to deep personal growth and development. This led to my founding the Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy in 2000.