Understanding your Schema’s & healing parts of self that are frozen, or stuck in suffering.
Schema Therapy : Working with Deeply Held Beliefs
working with people in Torquay, Geelong and Surf Coast & Australia-wide.
Where These Patterns Begin
Many of the ways we respond to the world today were shaped much earlier in life.
Experiences in childhood and adolescence can form deep emotional patterns about ourselves, others, and relationships.
These patterns often develop when important needs were not fully met - such as feeling safe, understood, nurtured, or emotionally supported.
In schema-informed therapy, these patterns are called schemas.
What are Schemas, Really?
Schemas are not simply thoughts. They are deeply held emotional beliefs that can influence how we interpret situations, relate to others, and respond to stress.
Often these patterns operate quietly in the background of our lives, shaping reactions that can feel confusing, overwhelming, or difficult to change.
Therapy offers a way to gently explore and transform these patterns so that you can respond to life with greater awareness, flexibility, and self-compassion.
How Schema Therapy Can Support You
By connecting to deep-seated beliefs formed in earlier life experiences when important emotional needs were not fully met - such as safety, belonging, nurture, stability, emotional expression, and feeling valued.
Over time these experiences can form powerful patterns that shape how we see ourselves and how we expect others to respond to us.
How these patterns may show up
feeling responsible for everyone else’s needs
difficulty expressing emotions or asking for support
people-pleasing or fear of conflict
perfectionism or relentless self-pressure
withdrawing or shutting down in relationships
feeling fundamentally “not enough” or different from others
These responses often developed as protective survival responses.
At one point in life they would have helped you adapt, survive, or stay connected in difficult environments.
Integrating the parts of you
Together we gently explore both the schemas and the protective parts of self that developed around them.
Rather than trying to push these parts away, we work to understand their purpose and the experiences that shaped them. As this understanding grows, new ways of responding become possible.
Working With Schemas and Parts of Self
Over time many people find they can:
respond to emotions with greater self-compassion
feel less controlled by old patterns or reactions
develop a stronger, steadier sense of self
experience more authenticity and connection in relationships
bring more flexibility, playfulness, and ease into life
The aim is not to remove parts of yourself, but to help integrate them so that they are supported by a grounded and compassionate Healthy Adult part of self.
Learn more Understanding Different Parts of Self
Want to feel more grounded in your emotional world? Read my blog Navigating your Emotional States a Guide to Polyvagal Theory