CREATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY CLINIC  

     ESSAY NO. 1…INTRODUCTION  - BY Dr. K. Sohail (PSYCHOTHERAPIST)

I remember the day in 1994, when I invited my colleague Anne Henderson for lunch and shared with her that I would like to leave Whitby Psychiatric Hospital and open Creative Psychotherapy Clinic where I would not be restricted by the restrictions of an institution and would feel free to practice psychotherapy in my unique style. When I asked her if she would join me as I respected her as a therapist and trusted her that she would be a wonderful manager, she readily agreed. After that agreement we found a place on 213 Byron Street in Whitby and decided to start seeing patients in March 1995. We wrote a letter together to send it to the local family physicians announcing the birth of the clinic. We were pleasantly surprised that we were booked for a few weeks even before we sent the letter. Anne and I had not realized that we were so popular in the community. And that popularity has been increasing rather than decreasing over the years as we have a one year waiting list now.

          In the last ten years Anne and I have developed Green Zone Philosophy and Combination Therapy practice in our Creative Psychotherapy Clinic. Such philosophy and practice has made us unique in our community as no other clinic offers that kind of therapy. We have shared our philosophy in our books

The Art of Living / Loving in your Green Zone.

We try to tailor therapy depending upon the needs of our patients and families and use a combination of individual, marital, family and group therapy. Having tow therapists from different professional and cultural backgrounds enriches our practice.

          In the last few years the clinic has grown. Dr. Arfai and Bette Davis, a psychiatrist and a nurse have joined us. Dr. Arfai has a special interest in psycho-pharmacology, so we consult him about those patients who need psychotropic medications alongside psychotherapy. Bette Davis has a special interest in work related stress. She used to offer workshops and seminars to big organizations and institutions in Newfoundland helping workers, mangers and union leaders to work cooperatively and create a stress free work environment. She joined me in writing

The Art of Working in your Green Zone

and has now become my co-therapist in group and marital therapy practice. Since Bette Davis and I used to work together as co-therapists in Newfoundland nearly twenty five years ago, it was like renewing our old creative and professional friendship. Since we have learnt so much in those 25 years separately, we have far more to share with each other. We also have more skills and insights to offer our patients as a team

Bette Davis has also created a website, [greenzoneliving.ca ] to share our Green Zone Philosophy. In that website she has asked those people who read Green Zone books and benefited from Green Zone Philosophy to share their Green Zone Stories. While she was still in Newfoundland we exchanged letters about our views about romantic relationships and wrote a book Love, Sex and Marriage. Now she would like to focus on exploring the dynamics of psychology and psychotherapy with couples dealing with affairs and create a book, Love, Affairs and Betrayal as both of us are helping couples in crises. In the last year of our working together we have already helped a number of couples dealing with extra-marital affairs. We were fortunate in supporting them to transform their breakdowns into breakthroughs. We would like to discuss how those couples rather than divorcing each other and becoming bitter for the rest of their lives, overcame their emotional pain and sense of betrayal and developed a new relationship healthier and happier than ever before. A number of such couples have shared their stories so that others could benefit from their experiences.

          While Bette and I exchange ideas and experiences and discuss those clinical issues, readers are quite welcome to share their comments, experiences and questions. Your comments and questions might inspire us to write more and enrich the discussion of two psychotherapists.

Dated March 14^th, 2005