Philosophical Counselling
Welcome. My name is Matthew Bishop. I am a philosopher and a counsellor. I work at the intersection of philosophy and psychotherapy, to help people improve their lives. People come to me with many different kinds of problems or goals. I see people by Zoom or phone, in Australia and internationally.
Psychotherapy is the cultivation of psychological insight, growth, and well-being. I help you understand yourself more clearly at this level. I help you to dissolve problematic psychological patterns (habits, defenses, blindspots) which diminish your life. I help you cultivate better ways of responding, feeling, and acting. I help you navigate your world at a psychological and practical level.
Philosophy is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. Wisdom means having a vision of life which is as true and good as possible, which nourishes and guides you. Wisdom is also practical: having a direction, knowing how to make life work, and navigating the challenges and opportunities of daily life. A virtue is any good personal quality, which you cultivate, which makes you and your life better. Think of courage, or compassion, or fortitude, or "proper pride", or creativity. The practical cultivation of wisdom and virtue is the focus of classical philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, et cetera. Modern philosophy also has much to offer, for example existentialism, which helps us to cultivate courage and passion, and phenomenology, which helps us to understand our experience of life more deeply.
It was while teaching philosophy at The University of Melbourne and elsewhere that I decided to become a philosophical counsellor. I then studied Counselling and Psychotherapy to masters level. I spent years working in mainstream counselling roles for organisations, drawing deeply on all the major fields of therapy--Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavioural. In particular, I focused on Existential Therapy. At the same time, I retained always the fundamental identity of a philosopher. I am a philosopher who is also a highly experienced therapist, and it is from this angle, and through this combination, that I help people. We need to do psychological work on ourselves, but we are much more than our psychology. The greatest benefit comes from the cultivation of wisdom, and of virtue, which are the key source of strength, goodness, meaning, happiness, and flourishing.
Because I combine psychotherapy with philosophy, my philosophical counselling serves a range of interests. For example it is for:
--People who seek a purely philosophical conversation about some concern.
--People who desire to grow in wisdom and virtue, for life improvement.
--People who want psychotherapeutic help, but who sense that the combination I offer may be even better for them.
--Therapists who want to deepen the existential or philosophical dimensions of how they work, or how they cope in their work.
You can read more about my approach here. You can read about making a booking here.
See also my other, central website here, where I describe my various projects, for example therapeutically-minded tutoring in the art of critical thinking. Please read the paragraph below about the difference between myself and a Psychologist.
Psychotherapy is the cultivation of psychological insight, growth, and well-being. I help you understand yourself more clearly at this level. I help you to dissolve problematic psychological patterns (habits, defenses, blindspots) which diminish your life. I help you cultivate better ways of responding, feeling, and acting. I help you navigate your world at a psychological and practical level.
Philosophy is the cultivation of wisdom and virtue. Wisdom means having a vision of life which is as true and good as possible, which nourishes and guides you. Wisdom is also practical: having a direction, knowing how to make life work, and navigating the challenges and opportunities of daily life. A virtue is any good personal quality, which you cultivate, which makes you and your life better. Think of courage, or compassion, or fortitude, or "proper pride", or creativity. The practical cultivation of wisdom and virtue is the focus of classical philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, et cetera. Modern philosophy also has much to offer, for example existentialism, which helps us to cultivate courage and passion, and phenomenology, which helps us to understand our experience of life more deeply.
It was while teaching philosophy at The University of Melbourne and elsewhere that I decided to become a philosophical counsellor. I then studied Counselling and Psychotherapy to masters level. I spent years working in mainstream counselling roles for organisations, drawing deeply on all the major fields of therapy--Humanistic, Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavioural. In particular, I focused on Existential Therapy. At the same time, I retained always the fundamental identity of a philosopher. I am a philosopher who is also a highly experienced therapist, and it is from this angle, and through this combination, that I help people. We need to do psychological work on ourselves, but we are much more than our psychology. The greatest benefit comes from the cultivation of wisdom, and of virtue, which are the key source of strength, goodness, meaning, happiness, and flourishing.
Because I combine psychotherapy with philosophy, my philosophical counselling serves a range of interests. For example it is for:
--People who seek a purely philosophical conversation about some concern.
--People who desire to grow in wisdom and virtue, for life improvement.
--People who want psychotherapeutic help, but who sense that the combination I offer may be even better for them.
--Therapists who want to deepen the existential or philosophical dimensions of how they work, or how they cope in their work.
You can read more about my approach here. You can read about making a booking here.
See also my other, central website here, where I describe my various projects, for example therapeutically-minded tutoring in the art of critical thinking. Please read the paragraph below about the difference between myself and a Psychologist.
Please note that I am a Counsellor (or Psychotherapist). I am not a Psychologist. Psychologists are often trained in a clinical approach (i.e. "the medical model"). They are trained to provide assessments, diagnoses, related treatments, management, reports and advocacy. While my years of working alongside Psychologists has made me familiar with many of their concepts, I am not trained in those things. Psychotherapists such as myself, are trained instead to help people understand themselves and to grow. The focus is not on the application of general, clinical concepts and practices, but on your unique, individual reality and goals. The goal is simply that you become more able to live well, in hard times and good. Think here of the difference between a doctor and a personal trainer. If you need diagnosis and specialised treatment for a disease, you should see a doctor. If you want to become more healthy, strong, and fit in general, you are often better off seeing a personal trainer. Of course, the work you do in personal training may be more effective for preventing disease, but it is not medical assessment or treatment for that. Doctors and Psychologists are clinical professionals, Personal Trainers and Psychotherapists and personal growth professionals.