Rachel Balsan
Biography
& Training
A word about me, even if “that’s not the point” … I have nevertheless thought it appropriate on this page to throw in a few elements of my background that may – or may not – be a sign.
- Languages and language
My interest in language led me to become a conference interpreter before becoming a psychotherapist. Learning several languages, living in different countries, especially in Italy but also in the United States, Spain and Taiwan, made me grow up in the school of difference. There are so many ways to be human! So many ways of becoming oneself! The question of communication and respect for difference is at the heart of my professional ethics, which requires listening and rigour.
- The song
As an amateur singer, I like to combine language with the power of sound and breath. I was confronted with the challenge of the stage, the artistic discipline, the need to find a means of expression to say what was inside me with a demand for quality. We are embodied beings. If we don’t want the “little bike” spinning in our heads to take over, it is essential to be rooted in a concrete practice in order to find a balance!
- and…silence!
The tense silence between two movements is itself music. This silence sometimes frightens us, and yet, is it not there that we can draw impetus, regeneration? My regular practice of meditation over many years has familiarised me with silence. In therapy, silence has a voice because it is the indicator of the progress of words and affects. Silence is also ‘what cannot be said’, what is difficult to say, the hidden sorrows. The hidden treasures.
My Training
I trained as a psychotherapist at the Institut de Formation à l’Approche Centrée sur la Personne selon Carl Rogers and then at the Centre d’Analyse Tridimensionnelle in Uzès, a school that prepares people for the psychotherapy profession.
I am qualified in coaching which also allows me to be certified in helping relationships and in human relations management.
- The Soma : this is the body, the whole physiological dimension.
- The Psyche : covers the emotional, intellectual and behavioural dimensions.
- The Pneuma : the breath is the instance of Life in us, that of the mystery and the unnameable, that of an intergenerational transmission. It shelters existential questions and favours the life and unity of the human being.
The training that I followed at the Centre d’Analyse Tridimensionnelle
is recognised by the Association Fédérative Francophone des Organismes de Psychothérapie Relationnelle et de Psychanalyse (AFFOP).
It is an analytical, integrative and humanistic psychotherapy approach.
Analytical
It is based on psychoanalysis following Freud, i.e. it takes into account the dynamics of the subconscious and transference. My psychotherapeutic work is part of an approach that continues the legacy of Freudian and Jungian contributions. I am also very inspired in my practice by the work of Winnicott and Melanie Klein. Analytical therapy aims to unravel psychic conflicts through speech and dream analysis. To enter into an analytical therapy is therefore to believe that the dynamics of the unconscious are at work and – with patience – to listen to them./p>
Integrative
It integrates different psychotherapeutic approaches and techniques:
- Psychoanalysis
- Respiratory Therapy
- Transactional Analysis
- Psychogenealogy
- Analysis of transgenerational scenarios
- Enneagram
The aim of the integrative approach is to respect the specific needs and uniqueness of each individual. It favours the relationship without being locked into an ideology in order to use the right method at the right time. The whole being is considered – body, emotions, mind, spirituality, past, present, future.
Humanist
It is above all an approach which is concerned with taking care of the human being by respecting his or her depths, i.e. without locking him or her into a technique and/or an objective, but by respecting his or her symptoms and rhythm. I refer in particular to the main representative of the existential humanist movement, Carl Rogers and his Person Centred Approach. For Carl Rogers, the patient’s experience takes precedence over any theory: he knows what he is suffering from and in what direction he should look. I use this approach in palliative care.
“True happiness is to accept oneself and to get in touch with oneself.”
I continue an ongoing formation to better accompany you and to nourish my practice.
I accompany palliative care patients after having received training at the Association for the Development of Palliative Care in the Gard (ASP-Gard).
I followed a training course to accompany children in their questioning and search for meaning (SEVE).
I am in the process of validating my diploma as a clinical psychologist at the University of Lyon II through the Training from Practice.