What is in a Name?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
In this blog I am going to explain a bit about the change of branding and why language and names are important in the therapy room.
I may be showing my age, I remember seeing 3-2-1 live, hosted by Ted Rogers, I was volunteered on stage given my own Dusty Bin, met Dusty Bin and the host asked me where I lived, I said ‘a house’. I did not have the language yet to define where I lived. I had a burst eardrum when I was very young, no one around me noticed it, so there was a period of my life that I could not find my words or language. I was referred for help but the help could not understand my needs as there was and is no language for what was wrong with me. In adulthood, I have struggled with grammar and spelling. I have wondered if this delay in me understanding language and further delay in finding the words has had a bigger effect on my life than anyone has realised. Those that have no language difficulties often get frustrated by my language mistakes.
I come from an orthodox Jewish faith background. I am now more secular in practice and my faith is not consciously spoken about in the therapy room, unless I feel it is relevant to the themes we are working on together in therapy. I cannot hide being from an ethnic background, as my eyes are quite small and skin tone is mixed white from its Polish and Russian roots. I also cannot hide being somewhere on the sexuality diverse spectrum. I would not hide this from my clients, but disclosure can be a tricky one and I always have to consider its relevance and how it could affect the relationship with clients.
I know what it means to carry many different names and identities.
I have two English names as my parents liked them. In Hebrew, I am named after an uncle that was special to my grandmother and mother, so my Hebrew name is seven words long. Some of our names carry our culture, original family history, identity and gender.
It is very important to me when building the therapeutic relationship to know what names you as the client holds on to and wish to let go of. This could also be about names and roles they have in their original family group, community, culturally or in their work setting. In equal measure I want to know what gender pronoun they use and being a transcultural therapist, I am very interested in the differences between our heritage, the known and their fantasies about me. This supports us to build a better connection.
Following qualifying in my studies of Relational Body Psychotherapy, Trauma and ten years of direct client work. It was time to make a huge change in my language. This does not mean I want to discredit my counselling colleagues. My private practice is in a place of growth and transition, this will now come under the new name of Chai-Yoel Korn Psychotherapy.
To find out more and keep up to date with services as they evolve please go to Chai-Yoel Korn Psychotherapy and for the extended services on offer please visit my Training page.