About me

Happiness is here and now

Elisabeth Sigrist

Working in mental health has been my second opportunity in my professional career. I took the decision to start from scratch, after realising that in my initial profession as a multilingual management secretary I would not find fulfilment. This decision to reinvent myself took effort and uncertainties, but now I am daily rewarded for it, with the satisfaction I feel working as a psychotherapist. With counselling I find self-realisation in many ways.

My philosophy

Therapy for me is like a great adventure, in which you enter the labyrinth of your mind, to fight against the dragons of your past, hidden in the dark caves of unconsciousness. As a therapist, all I do is teach you a few defense tactics in assertiveness and give you a flashlight and an orientation map for your trip. Then I watch and wonder again and again, as I contemplate how you become the hero of your own story; how you intuitively know in what memories your dragons are hidden, and how you face them with courage. Many of your dragons are nothing but shadows of the past, which disintegrate as soon as you illuminate them with the light of your flashlight. Others instead test your inner strength, opening those old wounds that cornered you in the past. As you overcome your fears, let out all your rage and find your own way to face life, you manage to defeat your dragons. In a puzzle like way, with each triumph the pieces of senselessness begin to fit together and the events in your personal story become more comprehensible, liberating your present. For me it is a privilege to accompany you in your saddest moments and share your most precious memories – they are intense moments, tender, sometimes painful, other times funny and always liberating.

My attitude towards online therapy

In today’s fast moving and globalised world, online therapy has become a necessity. Transcending distance, it is a time saving solution for people with an overfilled agenda and almost the only possibility to initiate a personal growth process if hotel rooms are your second home.

I have had good results with online therapy. Nevertheless, I always use it as a second option. When a personal consultation is not possible, online therapy is undoubtedly a better solution than not taking care of your personal difficulties. But at the core of almost any consultation there is always a lack of support of some kind in the past. The therapist’s physical presence is one of the basic elements to compensate for this absence, at a deep unconscious level. Thus the drawback I see with online therapy is that, with the inevitable physical distance, it cannot offer you this physical ‘being here’, essential for you to feel supported at a deep unconscious level, to help you overcome the sensation of fragility or vulnerability usually inherent in your reason for consultation. As a way to partially compensate for this inconvenience, as far as possible I always try to have some face-to-face sessions between online consultations.

If you do not wish to embark on a therapeutic process, but are in quest of answers about yourself and the world around you, I also offer theMaya support group as an online option. This is also an opportunity to create an insightful group with friends of yours who are spread out in the distance.

My experience with mental disorders

In recent years the profile of cases of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), dissociative disorders and psychotic states has increased in my practice. I feel especially close to this type of mental disorders, due to my own unstructured history and my personal process of overcoming traumas. The various therapeutic methods I have specialised in have all in some way been a personal attempt to overcome traumatic events and manage anxiety.

My combination of therapeutic techniques

My particular way of fusing different types of humanistic and holistic therapies somehow reflects my Spanish-Swiss roots. From my earliest childhood I learned to combine the Hispanic joy for life with the Germanic sense of security and responsibility. Throughout my career, both personally and professionally, I found that it is not easy to achieve this delicate balance between mind and emotions with only one type of therapy. This is why I choose to address the uniqueness of your personal thoughts and feeling with Gestalt therapy, your more spiritual quest and your need to overcome the past with more alternative methods, and the complexity of your interpersonal relations with Constructivist Systems therapy. This way therapy becomes a unifying experience.

My intercultural background

Since the very start of my carrier as a psychotherapist I have attended people of non-Hispanic origin. The languages that I was able to learn in the different countries where I grew up as an Ex-pat, together with the repetitive experiences of leaving behind friendships and familiar places, bring me close to your own experience if you are an Ex-pat, living in a country which is not your own. If deep inside you feel isolated or lost, it can make a great difference to speak with a professional who knows from experience what you are talking about. Being able to express your emotions and concerns with the nuances of your native language, to a therapist who understands and shares your cultural values and social customs, facilitates integration at an unconscious level.

I offer consultation in Spanish, English and German at native level. I also offer psychological support in Italian, French and Romanian, which I speak fluently but not perfectly.

My professional background

I started my career as a psychotherapist graduating in Psychology and Social Sciences at the Open University – United Kingdom
I am a member of the British Psychological Society (BPS)
In Madrid I trained as a Gestalt therapist at IPG – Instituto de Psicoterapia Gestalt (Institute of Gestalt Psychotherapy), in order to work in individual therapy
I also trained as a Constructivist Systems therapist at Center for Family Studies, so I could work with families, couples and groups
In 2008 I started working as an independent psychotherapist
As part of my personal and spiritual pursuit I do Theta Healing at a basic level. I took the ‘Basic DNA’ course from Theta Healing Institute of Knowledge
Following my interest in the different philosophies of life, I studied the Mayan Calendar for three years with María Fernanda Barreraand made a shamanic trip to Mexico with the shaman Fernando Broca
In my personal process I turned towards alternative therapies, studying the use of Mediterranean Flower Essenes with María Fernanda Barrera
I attended several Resonance Patterning courses, taught by her creator Chloe Wordsworth as well as by other trainers from the Resonance Repatterning Institute
I owe my knowledge in minerals to Nina Llinares, who trained me in Crystal Therapy
Given my interest in oriental techniques, I was initiated in the second level of Reiki with the Reiki Master Community Usui Shiki Ryoho
As a nutritional support to the therapeutic process, I distribute Transfer Factors

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