GILLIAN FOWLER, M. Clinical Psych (South Africa)

Clinical Psychologist

“As a therapist I aim to create a safe, containing space within which to facilitate an understanding of how clients’ past and present have shaped who they are and how they can create more fulfilling, life experiences, relationships and personal growth in the present.”

I currently work with young adults 19 years+ and adult clients and mainly use a psychodynamic therapeutic framework. I have a particular interest in the connection between the mind and body and how adversity (be it trauma or life stressors) influences the way we engage with the world and with others. I thus began training in Mindfulness and somatic release of trauma and stress from the body and continue gaining skills that can hopefully assist my clients to lessen emotional pain and to become more resilient to the challenges of life.

Creating a therapeutic space based on respect, trust and sound ethical conditions is the foundation of my work and this includes being mindful about clients’ cultural differences and various life circumstances. I thus create therapeutic interventions that are tailored to my clients’ specific issues.

I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa and completed my Masters in Psychology at the University of Cape Town Child Guidance Clinic in 2010. I then went on to work in the South African National Defence Force for three years, where I continued to work with both in and outpatients from diverse backgrounds who presented with a number of mental health issues and life challenges.

More recently I have worked in private practice and provided departmental therapeutic services to university students of various ages, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

I hope that my clients always feel seen and truly listened to and that the therapy journey can be a wonderful opportunity of truly getting to know oneself. I believe we all have a story and that having the honour of witnessing these stories for my clients is one of the most humbling, enlivening and fulfilling part of my work.

expertise

  • Emotion regulation
  • Self exploratory work/ personal growth
  • Relationship with self and others (individual work)
  • Tension and stress
  • Working on developmental trauma as an adult
  • Emotional “stuckness”
  • Trauma
  • Grief and loss
  • Mood Disorders
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Life transitions

TOOLS

  • Psychodynamic Therapy
  • Mindfulness
  • Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE®) Global Provider
  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Qualifications and memberships

  • Bachelor of Arts (Psychology & Criminology), University of South Africa, (Distinction for Criminology)
  • B. Soc. Science (University of Cape Town) (UCT)
  • M. Clinical Psych (UCT) South Africa
  • Licensed as a Clinical Psychologist, at Dubai Health Authority (DHA)