David Hingley
Member Status: Accredited
Member No: NCS21-02309
Location: Swansea
I started my working in mental health in Liverpool in 1990, a casual job helping out in a psychiatric day hospital sparked an interest and passion that has lasted until today all these years later. I started training to become a mental health nurse in Essex in 1991, quickly realising that the social and psychological parts of human experience were the often overlooked part of psychiatry. Once I qualified I sought jobs and opportunities that were going to help me develop skills in these areas. I trained in, and then became a trainer of Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and used this approach in my work as a nurse and educator for many years. Practising SFBT taught me that people are far more than their problems or diagnosis. although sometimes when we are stuck in the middle of life's difficulties it can seem like that's all there is to define us. It's at times like this that the right professional help can make it possible to discover new ways to overcome them, work out how rediscover lost skills and resources, and reveal inner strengths and capabilities that we weren't yet aware of.
These days my practice also include ideas from systemic and narrative approaches. Narrative ideas recognise the importance of our life story, and in a session with me I will often encourage people to tell their story - sometimes it's the first time it has been spoken out loud, and so it's an opportunity to join the dots and complete the picture of ourselves and our life that floats around in our head. Telling the story often allows us to make connections that we hadn't seen, and helps to make sense of our experiences and so finds a way to make understand who we really are. Systemic ideas help guide us to recognise that our experiences are affected by, and impact upon those around us - that we don't exist in isolation and that our perceptions of ourself are often shaped by our relationship with others and by the world around us.
In a session with me, I'll listen very carefully to the words you use and how they convey the feelings and thoughts that you express. I'll use my skills and experience to help you tell your story in a way that helps you to make sense of what has happened and what is happening to you. I'll ask you questions - lots of them, not because I need to know the answers to them, but to help you to think about yourself, your situation and your relationships in ways that you may not have thought about; to help you learn about yourself; and to help you find out who you have been, who you are now, and how you want to be in the future.
