Michael Cohn – B.Com, LL.B (Rand); Grad Dip Com Tech (Cape); Grad Dip Counselling (ACAP) M.Couns (UWS); MACA (Clinical); MCCA (Clinical); AABCAP (Clinical) PACFA register; ISMHO
I was trained as a Rogerian therapist and for the first few years of my practice, I concentrated on developing my empathic skills and just listening, listening, listening to my clients. In 2000, I became aware of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and did some reading in this area and in 2003; I attended my first course in ACT and have increasingly been drawn to this approach, both in my own life and in my clinical practice. It now is the mainstay of my practice.
Since then, I have attended many conferences in ACT and have given many workshops in ACT, have run skills-training for ACT therapists, and have presented a paper at one of the international ACT conferences – Oceania in New Zealand, on ‘Acceptance from a Buddhist Perspective’. Mindfulness has been a major part of my clinical practice and apart from my own meditation practice; I run several meditation groups each week.
My clinical work at various prominent psychiatric hospitals where I used to work brought me into contact with all aspects of mental health and I regularly worked with psychotic patients – schizophrenia, psychotic depression, as well as with patients with borderline personality disorder and PD traits. I also worked with people struggling with bipolar disorder.
In my own general practice, I get to see almost all that life offers in terms of a range of clients, from the worried well to people struggling with the issues of grief, anxiety and depression. In my former clinical setting, I used to run several CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) groups each week at a private psychiatric clinic where I worked for 2 ½ years. CBT is still considered the ‘gold standard’ by many therapists and it is considered effective in the treatment of depression and certain types of the anxiety disorders and it is now buttressed by mindfulness. Consequently I am totally familiar with the work of Beck, Ellis, Meichenbaum, Wolpe and others and I have developed some novel metaphors and experiential exercises which are generally experienced by my clients as effective in the teaching of cognitive restructuring skills and behavioural modification techniques. Part of my practice used to involve different exposure techniques, behavioural experiments and in vivo work to help clients shift in their lives.
I currently run several anxiety and depression groups each week, 4 process driven groups, as well as some distinctive pro-active therapy groups embodying both combined exercise and group therapy sessions.
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