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Couch: On The

Henry Hopwood-Phillips visits a therapist named Raechel Horowitz to undergo voice dialogue therapy. Raechel has him embody different aspects of his personality, or "selves", including a protective self and its opposite. Raechel has extensive experience and training in psychology, criminology, and working with at-risk populations. She discovered voice dialogue therapy after experiencing depression and uses it now to help others explore the different poles of their self.

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46 views

Couch: On The

Henry Hopwood-Phillips visits a therapist named Raechel Horowitz to undergo voice dialogue therapy. Raechel has him embody different aspects of his personality, or "selves", including a protective self and its opposite. Raechel has extensive experience and training in psychology, criminology, and working with at-risk populations. She discovered voice dialogue therapy after experiencing depression and uses it now to help others explore the different poles of their self.

Uploaded by

api-224336109
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HEALTH AND WELLBEING

On the

couch

Henry Hopwood-Phillips admits he has a problem and visits a shrink...

am being sandwiched by
a famous Stealers Wheel
lyric. I have clowns
to the left of me, jokers to
my right, here I am stuck
in the middle, well with
myself actually. No, I have
not finally lost my marbles.
In fact, Im training with
them at the behest of
Raechel Horowitz, who
was certainly a model in
another life. She is moving
me about the room, telling
Raechel Horowitz
me to move between
my selves.
I sniff for a trace of whatever shes smoking but
the airs clean. If I move to my right, I am encouraged to
become my protector self, embodying my desire to, in
my own words mediate, get between Henry and the raw
experience. Its what keeps Henry professional. I feel the
need to justify its existence against the opposite I know
shell make me play in a few minutes. Henry needs this
distance because it imparts stability, and a personality
needs coherence, I remind Raechel.
Back from being a delusional Caesar, referring to
myself in the third person, I silently reflect on the great
act of schizophrenia that Raechel has fomented. Dont
forget what youve just done. Too many people indulge
in their sides only to ignore them again. Store it in your
consciousness, she urges.
Back on my being side, the opposite of Mr Protector,
Im similar to Raechel herself a stoicism-lite emerges.
Were focusing on your defensive side and its opposite
today, she explains. But there are many poles of the self
to explore.
I put my dubious face on and ask what her medical
expertise is what right does this American have to
peddle holistic hocus pocus? Well, Im not American,
she answers with a smile. Honestly, she sounds American.

024

Shes actually Danish and South African. I just lived in


the States for a decade of schooling. Quite apart from her
origins, Raechel is a whizz-kid in all things psychological.
Her first degree was in criminology and psychology, a
stint at the Home Office followed. A postgraduate diploma
in psychology ended with an even more helpful spell at a
maximum security hospital in South Africa. There I ran
risk assessments, co-facilitated therapy sessions and gave
classes on drugs. It was phenomenal; I soaked up every
minute, she enthuses.
Raechel didnt stop there, however. After working
with juvenile sex offenders, victims of sexual assault and
domestic violence in New York, she moved back to London
to do a Masters in psychology. But illness hit. A heart
condition left her depressed and on medication. I felt I was
losing my way. I had gathered encyclopaedic amounts of
knowledge but had lost my cause, she recollects.

Raechel is a whizz-kid in all


things psychological
It was voice dialogue therapy that saved me from
falling any further. Immediately I started to respect what is
considered holistic in tick-list circles. Raechel doesnt
deny the need for tick-lists; they are important to clinicians,
but we mustnt omit all the ways people operate because
of them, she protests.
Now, having been trained by a mentor with 30 years
experience, and having embarked on several trips to worldacknowledged experts on voice dialogue therapy, Raechel
hopes to flip her mini-tragedy into a happy ending for
anybody who is brave enough to try it. Not that it requires
much bravery; shes neither a patronising shrink nor a
bullish blue stocking in fact, shes one of the few people
Id disclose my selves to.
raechelhorowitz.co.uk

B E L G R AV I A R E S I D E N T S J O U R N A L

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