Expressive Therapies Counselling
Online * Coffs Harbour * Armidale
Individual and Couple work
Darryl Harper
0477 333 592
bunjarumba@gmail.com
Trauma-informed
30+ years experience
Safe, supportive and person-centred
Find a new perspective
Free 20 minute phone consult for new intakes
About Darryl
Darryl has over 30 years counselling experience, specialising in trauma, loss, grief, addiction and compulsive behaviours. He works with people from primary school age to adulthood.
After his initial counselling training, he undertook 5 years of intensive experiential training in Transpersonal and Emotional Release Counselling. He worked full-time as a residential counsellor in rehabilitation, working with drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness and homelessness. He was a high school counsellor and college well-being officer for 9 years, and has worked in primary school counselling and out-of-home care casework, as well as building his private practice.
Darryl works with individuals, as well as couples and families. He is a trauma-informed psychotherapist, understanding the body’s ways of holding and expressing grief, loss and abuse.
Trauma is often remembered by the body, and evidenced in our lives as anxiety, depression, emotional triggering or dampening, somatic symptoms such as pain or numbness, and mental health issues.
He brings compassion and understanding to each person, holding them in a safe and healing space.
Darryl is registered with PACFA, and ATEP as a clinical therapist.
Some Expressive Therapy modalities:
Dreamwork: a subtly rich and powerful unfolding of unconscious material.
Voice Dialogue: a conversational balancing of different selves operating as your personality, bringing awareness and release of internal tension.
Listen to the originators, Drs Hal and Sidra Stone, discuss how voice dialogue works: Introduction to Voice Dialogue
Sandplay and Symbol work: when you symbolise something, a healing has already happened; a gentle yet highly effective way to express energy within you that is otherwise out of reach.
Sandplay therapy as developed by Jungian therapist Dora Kalff: What is Sandplay?
Breathwork: a powerful and dynamic transformational modality for accessing and freeing deeply held patterns.
Stan Grof explains Holotropic Breathwork in interview: Stan Grof on Holotropic Breathwork
Body focus/dialogue: your physical body holds your feelings, energy and patterns. The mind learns, but the body remembers.
Meditation and journaling: two simple grounding exercises that support growth and awareness as well as being their own form of exploration.
Workshops, retreats and groupwork
Message Darryl directly to enquire about participation in one of his groups. He is currently involved in facilitating men’s groups, breath work sessions, and mentoring in inner work and emotional intelligence.
Upcoming workshops include:
Soul collage — using found images to compose small, personal symbolic narratives: Introduction to Soul Collage
Fatherhood — forming collaborative peer groups with a focus on intentional parenting and breaking old family patterns
Dreamwork — using Jung’s understanding of symbols to attend to the material offered up by our unconscious
Movement — somatic expression of emotion through music, following the body’s natural rhythm and instinct
Voice Dialogue — an intriguing exploration of the different parts of the internal system of your personality in a safe but dynamic group setting
— Workshops, retreats and groups can be tailored to your needs, with a focus on any of the expressive modalities Darryl uses.
Symbolic Sculpture and Emotional Expression Workshop
Coming to Armidale and Coffs Harbour in May — an opportunity to work closely with Darryl and sculptor Rowan McAuley in a small-group exploration of mindful art practice and intuitive expression of self and feelings.
Group numbers will be strictly limited to six participants to ensure a warm, safe and collaborative atmosphere with maximum availability to both Darryl and Rowan’s support as you are guided through a simple yet powerful mode of personal reflection and creativity. We will be working primarily in polymer clay — a very free and instinctive medium that is clean, easy to model, and suits a range of artistic styles.
There is no need for you to have previous experience in sculpture, or any level of artistic skill — you will be given all the necessary technical guidance to bring your ideas to fruition.
Darryl will lead us in meditation and mindfulness techniques that will assist you to explore the thoughts and feelings you want to convey in your sculpture, and help us reflect on the completed pieces and what they have taught us through the creative process.
All materials will be provided at the workshop, but participants are invited to bring with them:
Inspiring or evocative images that are meaningful to you
A journal or process diary
Any mixed media fragments you would like to include in your sculpture
Please contact Darryl to discuss booking your place: 0477 333 592 or bunjarumba@gmail.com
Welcome to Point of Difference Expressive Therapies Counselling.
Before you book your first counselling appointment with Darryl, make a time for a free 20-minute intake consultation. Here you will be able to discuss your intentions and expectations for counselling, and get a feel for whether you and Darryl would be a good fit for one another.
Call or text on: 0477 333 592
Or email: bunjarumba@gmail.com