counselling - Chele Yntema

The Sociology of Culture and the Paradoxical Nature of Diversity. Culturally-Infused Practice in Counselling.

Posted on April 21, 2019 by Chele Yntema

Born from and into relationship, we are - the human race is, anything but an isolated species. Indeed, there is a universal reality that self-concept and identity are insurmountably enmeshed within ever evolving cultural contexts (Lago, 2005; Lott, 2010; Matsumoto & Juang, 2008; Siegel, 2012). Yet, it would be foolish to dismiss that this same enmeshment, if not explicitly conceptualised, has the potential to create group and individual levels of segregation and identity disintegration that...Read More

Silence and Solitude

Posted on August 17, 2018August 10, 2020 by Chele Yntema

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Each day I ensure I cultivate a space for silence in solitude. It is in this space that I find my breath and simply allow myself to pay attention. Thoughts come thoughts go. Sensations come and sensations go. With each one I see or feel I come back to my breath. Often this coming back creates a...Read More

The final word is love…

Posted on August 17, 2018August 10, 2020 by Chele Yntema

“The final word is love… To love we must know each other … and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone any more. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship. We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” I think sometimes it...Read More

I am who I am

Posted on August 17, 2018August 10, 2020 by Chele Yntema

I am who I am. Listening to a podcast this afternoon I began to remember why I am who I am, and why paying attention to why I am who I am is important. To know the wounds of my heart and to be guided by them, not in hate or hurt, not through anger or vengeance, but in kindness, compassion, and in the freedom to give my joyous hope in love, faith, and hope......Read More

Peace Within

Posted on July 16, 2018July 16, 2018 by Chele Yntema

"Peace requires something far more difficult than revenge or merely turning the other cheek; it requires empathising with the fears and unmet needs that provide the impetus for people to attack each other. Being aware of those feelings and needs, people lose their desires to attack back because they see the human ignorance leading to those attacks. Instead, their goal becomes providing the empathic connection and education that will enable them to transcend their violence...Read More

Family

Posted on July 6, 2018July 16, 2018 by Chele Yntema

I am learning more and more about the interconnected nature of family. Specifically, while the past has a strong influence on us holistically, it doesn’t have to keep us trapped. Everything from the expression of an individual’s DNA and the future of what it means to break perpetual cycles of embodied disease and illness; to the future of the earth and the way we harness holistic wellbeing through intrinsic energy. We have the choice to...Read More

WoW! A biopsychosocial model of holistic wellbeing

Posted on May 12, 2018August 14, 2020 by Chele Yntema

A Counselling conceptualisation and intervention based on a Wheel of Wellness. Though often it may not be recognised as such, suffering – psychological, physiological, and even cultural – is an entity: an energy that exists within and between the dimensions of human wholeness. This energy is an enigma with a sometimes-subtle capacity to promote optimal functioning by way of enhanced adaptability and resilience (Sarafino, Caltabiano, & Byrne, 2008; Siegel, 2012). Yet, quite often this evolutionary...Read More

Interpersonal Trauma

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Chele Yntema

Introduction Although at times western society may portray that the essence of significance is individualism, there is an undeniable inherent connection between the “relational self” (Siegel, 2012, pp. 348 - 349) and a life in which we are able to attain well-being, meaning, and assurance in spite of pain. Yet, when the relational self is affected by prolonged interpersonal trauma (IT), what are the effects on an individual’s overarching sense of safety and significance: on...Read More