Rate Robert Gebka

Welcome to my therapist's webpage. As we all know, life can be pretty hard and it takes courage to reach out for support. I really do believe that you have within you the resourcefulness you need in order to live a life with depth, meaning and self-compassion. I feel that my role is to help you recognize this and empower you to find a way of tapping into your own wisdom.

I have been practicing counselling and coaching for the last 25 years and am a qualified MBSR Mindfulness teacher having trained with the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, USA. I have worked both in a government NHS psychiatric hospital and have served as the director of the Dorset Mindfulness Centre. I also have a good understanding of medication used for common mental health difficulties and feel able to guide my clients in navigating this area of their lives. Besides this I am the author of Managing Depression with Mindfulness for Dummies and am currently writing another book on men’s mental health.

I feel fortunate that I have had the opportunity to spend five years living at a Zen Buddhist monastery in South Africa where I studied mindfulness based psychology and human behaviour.

My interest in counselling and the “inner work” has been inspired by my own healing journey through PTSD, anxiety and depression and it is this very journey that has inspired my passion in empowering others towards a more compassionate life. I do really feel blessed that I can now draw on this lived experience for inspiration and empathize wisely with my clients and their struggles.

My style is pretty casual, yet structured, relaxed and solution focused. I work in a trauma informed and compassionate based way and like to think that I offer my clients a safe and nourishing space in which to express themselves just as they are.

At this moment in time I only offer video based therapy.

My counselling work includes the following:

# Emotional Resilience Coaching – A fantastic approach for people who wish to develop a greater awareness of their feelings as well as learn practical emotional regulation skills.

# Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) – Excellent for clients who wish to engage in cognitive attention training who might be struggling with light to moderate anxiety and low mood.

# HSP - Highly Sensitive Person Coaching - This form of coaching is incredibly helpful for individuals who struggle with being overwhelmed by other people's emotions, moods and or energies and feel burdened by the world around them, struggling to maintain their own emotional balance.

# Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) – A wonderful modality for people who struggle with chronic stress as well as illness and for those who simply wish to learn mindfulness meditation.

# FLASH Therapy – This is based on EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) and is an incredibly powerful intervention used to treat symptoms of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) as well as for the processing and releasing of difficult emotions.

# Mindful Self-compassion Training – This evidence based modality can be helpful for those of us who struggle with a strong inner critic as well as feelings of shame and wish to learn how to be kinder to themselves.

# De-prescribing Coaching (coming off mental health medication) – This a useful modality for clients who would like to gradually come off their anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication as part of their deeper healing journey. The coaching protocol is done with the support of the medical prescriber. (Please never stop your medication without consulting your medical practitioner).

# Transpersonal coaching – An incredibly empowering non-religious modality that is suitable for people who wish to explore their existential landscape and inner depth as well as transcendental aspects of our human experience. This can include integrating deep meditational experiences, shifts in consciousness as well as experiences relevant to psychedelic use.

I am based in the UK and live in Bournemouth near the sea with my wife and our four-year-old daughter. Whenever time allows I enjoy drinking a milky coffee sitting in a coffee shop and watch the world go by. I’m also learning to play the piano and of course enjoy soaking up the sun at our beautiful local beaches.

I offer therapy in English as well as Polish.

I am an accredited member of the National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society as well as the British Association of Mindfulness Based Approaches.