TERAPI I CENTRUM
Individual therapy, couples therapy, family therapy and autism coaching for parents in Copenhagen
Johanne Westergaard, MA in Anthropology, works as certified Emotion Focused Psychotherapist, Couples Therapist, Family Therapist, and Autism Coach from her private practice in Havnegade, close to Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn.
Feel better about yourself and your relationships.
I offer conversation therapy for you, for you as a couple and for you or you both as parents.
I run 2 day courses for professionals in Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFST) on guiding parents in families with struggling children.
I specialize in family therapy, and in parent coaching about autism.
Read more
There are many reasons for seeking therapy. Together we will explore what is troubling you.
Our feelings and emotional processes hold important information about what we need. My focus in therapy is on helping you to feel, understand, express and navigate by your emotions. So that you have the opportunity to make lasting changes in your life on an emotional level, not just in your understanding of yourself on a cognitive level.
I value the relationship and that you feel safe in our sessions. I aim to provide a safe and empathetic space for you to discover what is important to you, by being supportive, empathetic, present, respectful and curious about who you are and what you need.
Recurring pain and challenges that we may experience today are often rooted in old emotional wounds. Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) understands these as our individual emotional patterns, created in childhood or through specific experiences in our lives. I.e. the way we have unconsciously learned to handle our emotions since childhood, can prevent us from living freely and in accordance with what we need today.
EFT sees our emotions as an internal navigation system. We need access to our emotions in order to make positive changes in our lives, live more in harmony with ourselves and experience greater joy.
My therapeutic approach
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Read more
There is usually love and a desire to find a way forward together in those who seek couples therapy. This is the case of both lovers, friends and relatives seeking therapy.
The aim is for you to discover, feel and express what is at stake for each of you, and to explore how you can meet each other in a better way to increase the emotional contact, respect and intimacy between you.
There are many reasons for seeking couples therapy. Perhaps you recognise some of these:
- Recurring, entrenched conflicts that you want to change
- Conversations tend to end up in harsh words, misunderstandings, criticism or defence
- Feelings of loneliness or withdrawal from the relationship
- Relationship ‘trauma’ caused by infidelity or breach of trust
- Jalousy
- Loss of emotional connection and intimacy
- Reconciling everyday life with being romantic partners
- Needs and boundaries of families coming together
- Divorce or not? In need of clarification
Together we will unfold some of the difficult issues and situations you are experiencing in your relationship. Couples therapy can help you get out of stuck and negative patterns.
The existential dilemma: How can I be in a relationship with you without losing myself? is central to the therapeutic work and will be reflected in my support and guidance for you.
You will learn to recognise, acknowledge and make space for both your own feelings and needs and for each other’s feelings and needs. You will become better at seeing and dealing with challenges together, so that they no longer come between you. You will learn how to express yourself emotionally without getting defensive and making yourself or others feel “wrong”.
My therapeutic approach
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFC-T)
Read more
I know you want to help your struggling child or young person. And I believe that you can.
In Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents, I support and guide parents in accessing and developing empathy for their own difficult feelings as parents, in (re)gaining faith in their ability to support their struggling child, and in using specific tools and exercises to ‘turn around’ the child’s challenging feelings and behaviour.
All parents are doing the best that they can. And they know their child best of all. Parents are with their children 24/7. As such, they are the primary resource for helping their struggling children. This is the fundamental belief and experience in the practice of EFST Family Therapy for Parents.
This is what you will learn in Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST):
Through the FØL method, i.e. specific exercises, you will learn to pay attention to and understand your own feelings, which will make it easier for you to understand your child’s feelings. In this way you will have a better understanding of what your child is feeling and how to meet your child’s needs. I also offer therapy sessions for children between 13 and 17 years old, combined with a start up session for the parent(s) and parent sessions in between in order to ensure the best possible support for the child or young person.
In this way, you will be able to create a more supportive family environment at home that will help you as a parent, your vulnerable child and his or her siblings to thrive better.
- F / Understanding emotions: Learning about emotions and validating feelings. Your own feelings as a parent and your child’s feelings.
- Ø/ Increasing motivation: Learning about motivation, understanding your own motivation and that of others. Discovering your emotional traps (e.g. when we feel anxious or rejected by our child, we may show anger or walk on eggshells to prevent ourselves from feeling this way) and working with these emotional traps.
- L / Resolving relationship difficulties: Learning to change the relationship. Taking radical responsibility for the parent-child relationship and repairing emotional wounds. Becoming aware of your own limitations, learning how they work and how they can be changed.
I also run 2-day courses for professionals, municipalities, family centres etc in Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFST). This is about counselling parents as part of efforts to work with families with children or young people who are unhappy and struggling.
My therapeutic approach
Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST)
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Read more
I know you want to help your struggling child or young person, and I believe that you can.
Combining Family Therapy EFST with professional and personal knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD, I support and guide parents in accessing and developing empathy for their own feelings, in (re)gaining faith in their ability to support their struggling child, and in using specific tools and exercises to ‘turn around’ the child’s challenging feelings and behaviour the best way possible. The guidance also involves understanding the unique way the specific child with autism functions both emotionally, sensitively and cognitively in order to create an environment in which this child can thrive.
Parents are with their children 24/7. They know their child best of all. As such, they are the primary resource for helping their struggling child or young person with autism. Parents and perhaps other relatives often feel exhausted, powerless, lonely, sad, frustrated etc. after supporting a child or young person with autism for a long time. Seeking professional advice and support to help them find their way forward is evidence of a deep wish that they, their child and the whole family can thrive in a better way. For parents to continue to be there for their child or young person, putting on the oxygen mask is essential.
In Emotion Focused Family Therapy and Skills Training, I support and guide parents to (re)gain belief in their ability to support their vulnerable child and to ‘turn around’ the child’s challenging behaviour. My therapeutic approach includes the FØL method – see “Family therapy for parents”. And when we have a child with autism, we also need to understand the unique way the child functions emotionally, sensitively and cognitively in order to create an environment in which the child can thrive.
It often takes almost supernatural strength to be the supporting parent or relative of a child or young person with autism. I will support and guide you in:
- Understanding your child’s challenging behaviour in the context of their autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To decode the emotions and needs behind your child’s actions. To understand: What is not about your limitations as a parent, but is rooted in your child’s needs and current feelings of insecurity, fear, powerlessness, loss of control as “just” inevitable consequences of your child trying to navigate and survive in an unpredictable world?
- To specific Cognitive Behavioural Therapy skills that can help you to support your child in everyday life at home and to be able to communicate your child’s needs to siblings, grandparents, etc. and to school, friends, etc.
- Learning to recognize your own emotional traps (the FØL method). This has proven to be a very effective tool for regaining a sense of empowerment as a parent of an autistic child.
- Putting on your oxygen mask: Going through a very difficult, demanding and stressful time in your life, it is vital for both you and your child that you are supported by those close to you, or by parents in your situation, and/or through therapy. In order for you to continue to provide the best possible support for your child at risk, you need care and support. I wish to help you. I will support you in learning to understand and empathise with your own difficult parental feelings. I will guide you in expressing and accepting your vulnerable feelings, and I will support and guide you in taking care of your own needs in the best way possible.
I support you in understanding and responding to your child’s or children’s feelings and needs. I provide training and tools for you to use at home. In this way, even though your child is not actively attending our sessions, you will be able to create a more supportive family environment at home that will help you as a parent, your vulnerable child and his or her siblings to thrive better under the conditions of autism.
As well as using the therapeutic methods of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) and Emotion Focused Family Therapy for Parents (EFST), I also use CBT from my Autism Specialisation and my specialist knowledge of Autism, including my own relationships within the field of autism. This provides both emotional and practical guidance for you as a parent, supporting both your feelings and needs, the feelings and needs of your child and an improved family environment through practical training and specific tools.
My therapeutic approach
Autism specialization (Molis) incl. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST)
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Read more
There are many reasons for seeking therapy. Together we will explore what is troubling you.
Our feelings and emotional processes hold important information about what we need. My focus in therapy is on helping you to feel, understand, express and navigate by your emotions. So that you have the opportunity to make lasting changes in your life on an emotional level, not just in your understanding of yourself on a cognitive level.
I value the relationship and that you feel safe in our sessions. I aim to provide a safe and empathetic space for you to discover what is important to you, by being supportive, empathetic, present, respectful and curious about who you are and what you need.
Recurring pain and challenges that we may experience today are often rooted in old emotional wounds. Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) understands these as our individual emotional patterns, created in childhood or through specific experiences in our lives. I.e. the way we have unconsciously learned to handle our emotions since childhood, can prevent us from living freely and in accordance with what we need today.
EFT sees our emotions as an internal navigation system. We need access to our emotions in order to make positive changes in our lives, live more in harmony with ourselves and experience greater joy.
My therapeutic approach
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Read more
There is usually love and a desire to find a way forward together in those who seek couples therapy. This is the case of both lovers, friends and relatives seeking therapy.
The aim is for you to discover, feel and express what is at stake for each of you, and to explore how you can meet each other in a better way to increase the emotional contact, respect and intimacy between you.
There are many reasons for seeking couples therapy. Perhaps you recognise some of these:
- Recurring, entrenched conflicts that you want to change
- Conversations tend to end up in harsh words, misunderstandings, criticism or defence
- Feelings of loneliness or withdrawal from the relationship
- Relationship ‘trauma’ caused by infidelity or breach of trust
- Jalousy
- Loss of emotional connection and intimacy
- Reconciling everyday life with being romantic partners
- Needs and boundaries of families coming together
- Divorce or not? In need of clarification
Together we will unfold some of the difficult issues and situations you are experiencing in your relationship. Couples therapy can help you get out of stuck and negative patterns.
The existential dilemma: How can I be in a relationship with you without losing myself? is central to the therapeutic work and will be reflected in my support and guidance for you.
You will learn to recognise, acknowledge and make space for both your own feelings and needs and for each other’s feelings and needs. You will become better at seeing and dealing with challenges together, so that they no longer come between you. You will learn how to express yourself emotionally without getting defensive and making yourself or others feel “wrong”.
My therapeutic approach
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFC-T)
Read more
I know you want to help your struggling child or young person. And I believe that you can.
In Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents, I support and guide parents in accessing and developing empathy for their own difficult feelings as parents, in (re)gaining faith in their ability to support their struggling child, and in using specific tools and exercises to ‘turn around’ the child’s challenging feelings and behaviour.
All parents are doing the best that they can. And they know their child best of all. Parents are with their children 24/7. As such, they are the primary resource for helping their struggling children. This is the fundamental belief and experience in the practice of EFST Family Therapy for Parents.
This is what you will learn in Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST):
Through the FØL method, i.e. specific exercises, you will learn to pay attention to and understand your own feelings, which will make it easier for you to understand your child’s feelings. In this way you will have a better understanding of what your child is feeling and how to meet your child’s needs. I also offer therapy sessions for children between 13 and 17 years old, combined with a start up session for the parent(s) and parent sessions in between in order to ensure the best possible support for the child or young person.
In this way, even though your child is not actively attending our sessions, you will be able to create a more supportive family environment at home that will help you as a parent, your vulnerable child and his or her siblings to thrive better.
- F / Understanding emotions: Learning about emotions and validating feelings. Your own feelings as a parent and your child’s feelings.
- Ø/ Increasing motivation: Learning about motivation, understanding your own motivation and that of others. Discovering your emotional traps (e.g. when we feel anxious or rejected by our child, we may show anger or walk on eggshells to prevent ourselves from feeling this way) and working with these emotional traps.
- L / Resolving relationship difficulties: Learning to change the relationship. Taking radical responsibility for the parent-child relationship and repairing emotional wounds. Becoming aware of your own limitations, learning how they work and how they can be changed.
I also run 2-day courses for professionals, municipalities, family centres etc in Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFST). This is about counselling parents as part of efforts to work with families with children or young people who are unhappy and struggling.
My therapeutic approach
Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST)
Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)
Read more
I know you want to help your struggling child or young person, and I believe that you can.
Combining Family Therapy EFST with professional and personal knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD, I support and guide parents in accessing and developing empathy for their own feelings, in (re)gaining faith in their ability to support their struggling child, and in using specific tools and exercises to ‘turn around’ the child’s challenging feelings and behaviour the best way possible. The guidance also involves understanding the unique way the specific child with autism functions both emotionally, sensitively and cognitively in order to create an environment in which this child can thrive.
Parents are with their children 24/7. They know their child best of all. As such, they are the primary resource for helping their struggling child or young person with autism. Parents and perhaps other relatives often feel exhausted, powerless, lonely, sad, frustrated etc. after supporting a child or young person with autism for a long time. Seeking professional advice and support to help them find their way forward is evidence of a deep wish that they, their child and the whole family can thrive in a better way. For parents to continue to be there for their child or young person, putting on the oxygen mask is essential.
In Emotion Focused Family Therapy and Skills Training, I support and guide parents to (re)gain belief in their ability to support their vulnerable child and to ‘turn around’ the child’s challenging behaviour. My therapeutic approach includes the FØL method – see “Family therapy for parents”. And when we have a child with autism, we also need to understand the unique way the child functions emotionally, sensitively and cognitively in order to create an environment in which the child can thrive.
It often takes almost supernatural strength to be the supporting parent or relative of a child or young person with autism. I will support and guide you in:
- Understanding your child’s challenging behaviour in the context of their autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To decode the emotions and needs behind your child’s actions. To understand: What is not about your limitations as a parent, but is rooted in your child’s needs and current feelings of insecurity, fear, powerlessness, loss of control as “just” inevitable consequences of your child trying to navigate and survive in an unpredictable world?
- To specific Cognitive Behavioural Therapy skills that can help you to support your child in everyday life at home and to be able to communicate your child’s needs to siblings, grandparents, etc. and to school, friends, etc.
- Learning to recognize your own emotional traps (the FØL method). This has proven to be a very effective tool for regaining a sense of empowerment as a parent of an autistic child.
- Putting on your oxygen mask: Going through a very difficult, demanding and stressful time in your life, it is vital for both you and your child that you are supported by those close to you, or by parents in your situation, and/or through therapy. In order for you to continue to provide the best possible support for your child at risk, you need care and support. I wish to help you. I will support you in learning to understand and empathise with your own difficult parental feelings. I will guide you in expressing and accepting your vulnerable feelings, and I will support and guide you in taking care of your own needs in the best way possible.
I support you in understanding and responding to your child’s or children’s feelings and needs. I provide training and tools for you to use at home. In this way, even though your child is not actively attending our sessions, you will be able to create a more supportive family environment at home that will help you as a parent, your vulnerable child and his or her siblings to thrive better under the conditions of autism.
As well as using the therapeutic methods of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) and Emotion Focused Family Therapy for Parents (EFST), I also use CBT from my Autism Specialisation and my specialist knowledge of Autism, including my own relationships within the field of autism. This provides both emotional and practical guidance for you as a parent, supporting both your feelings and needs, the feelings and needs of your child and an improved family environment through practical training and specific tools.
My therapeutic approach
Autism specialization (Molis) incl. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Emotion Focused Skills Training (EFST)
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
In therapy, we work with experienced conditions such as:
- Are you unhappy, without really knowing why?
- Do you have a lot of worries?
- Are you often overwhelmed by your emotions, or do you find it difficult to feel your emotions?
- Do you often feel lonely or depressed?
- Do you have difficulty speaking up, expressing your feelings and needs, setting boundaries? Do you often feel misunderstood?
- Is it difficult to understand your actions and reactions?
- Do you feel stressed, overwhelmed or burnt out?
- Are you very critical of yourself, feeling inadequate, guilty or ashamed?
- Are you experiencing conflicted and stressful relationships with family, friends or work?
- Have you lost a loved one or been abandoned?
- Are changes in your life challenging you?
- Relationship problems? Need to balance family life and being lovers? Loneliness, lack of intimacy and closeness, shame, difficult communication, frequent conflicts, infidelity and betrayal? Considering divorce?
- Parent of a struggling child or young person? Many conflicts with the child/young person? What does the child try to communicate with its challenging behavior? Difficult parenting emotions such as feeling inadequate, bewildered, powerless, sad, worried, angry, exhausted. Doubtful: How do I support my vulnerable child or young person? How can I improve my relationship to my child? How can I take care of my self in this difficult period?
- Parent of a struggling child or young person with autism? Does everyday life consist of you dealing with school refusal, anxiety, meltdowns, isolation, self-harming behavior, eating disorder, or…? What is your child trying to tell you with its challenging behavior? Feeling stressed supporting your vulnerable child, and at the same time supporting your other children, being a romantic partner, an employee, the “coordinator” between school, PPR, municipality, doctor etc.? Feeling powerless, exhausted, angry, sad and lonely in a situation that won’t go away and requires superhuman strengths as a parent?
Prices and practicalities
Free of charge 30-min. initial consultation (by phone or in Havnegade)
Individual therapy 60 min: DKK 850
Couples therapy 75 min incl. VAT: DKK 1250
Family therapy 75 min incl. VAT: DKK 1250
Autism guidance for parents 75 min incl. VAT: DKK 900 OBS for now reduced price for training clients
2-day course for professionals, municipalities, family centers etc. about counselling parents as part of family interventions. Please contact me for further information. A course description and price will be sent to you.
20 % reduction for young people (18-25 years) and unemployed.
Payment
MobilePay or cash.
Cancellation
Cancellations must be made at least 24 hours prior to the start of the session by SMS to tel. (+45) 53 64 64 90. Otherwise the full amount will be charged.
Confidentiality
I am bound by confidentiality. As a member of the Danish Association of Psychotherapists (DPFO), I follow the Association’s ethical guidelines for psychotherapy.
About me
Professional background:
Certified Emotion Focused Psychotherapist MPF, examined from the EFT Institute. My therapeutic training:
- Individual Therapist, examined: 4 years education in Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), plus 1 year education in Research in Psychotherapy
- Couples Therapist: Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C Level A)
- Family Therapist and Parent Coach: Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST)
- Autism Coach for Parents – currently training in: Autism Specilisation (Molis) incl. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
&
MA in Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
Worked for many years with research policy and funding.
Living with my family in Copenhagen.
It is important to me:
- To create a safe and empathetic platform from which you can explore what is challenging you
- To offer my support, empathy, presence, respect and curiosity about who you are and what you need.
- You are the expert on yourself and you choose what you want to address in the sessions and at what pace.
We will work together to help you gain access to your vulnerable feelings. Using my expertise and proven therapeutic methods, I will help you gain a deeper awareness and contact with your feelings and needs.
Evidence that EFT creates lasting change
The aim of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is for you to gradually live your life more authentically and freely, and to navigate your relationships with increasing ease and self-sustaining boundaries.
There is evidence that EFT and its variations, Emotion Focused Couples Therapy (EFT-C) and Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFST), are all methods that create lasting change on an emotional level – not just the way we understand ourselves and the challenges we face on a mental level.
About me
Professional background:
Certified Emotion Focused Psychotherapist MPF, examined from the EFT Institute. My therapeutic training:
- Individual Therapist, examined: 4 years education in Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), plus 1 year education in Research in Psychotherapy
- Couples Therapist: Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C Level A)
- Family Therapist and Parent Coach: Emotion Focused Skills Training for Parents (EFST)
- Autism Coach for Parents – currently training in: Autism Specilisation (Molis) incl. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
&
MA in Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.
Worked for many years with research policy and funding.
Living with my family in Copenhagen.
It is important to me:
- To create a safe and empathetic platform from which you can explore what is challenging you
- To offer my support, empathy, presence, respect and curiosity about who you are and what you need.
- You are the expert on yourself and you choose what you want to address in the sessions and at what pace.
We will work together to help you gain access to your vulnerable feelings. Using my expertise and proven therapeutic methods, I will help you gain a deeper awareness and contact with your feelings and needs.
Evidence that EFT creates lasting change
The aim of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is for you to gradually live your life more authentically and freely, and to navigate your relationships with increasing ease and self-sustaining boundaries.
There is evidence that EFT and its variations, Emotion Focused Couples Therapy (EFT-C) and Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFST), are all methods that create lasting change on an emotional level – not just the way we understand ourselves and the challenges we face on a mental level.
Book a session
You can make an appointment by contacting me on tel. (+45) 53 64 64 90, by e-mail at kontakt@terapiicentrum.dk or by filling in the contact form on this page.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions in advance.
I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Contact Information
TERAPI I CENTRUM
Havnegade 49 GF, 1058 København K
(+45) 53 64 64 90
kontakt@terapiicentrum.dk
CVR no.: 44004771
Member of Dansk Psykoterapeutforening
Write to me
Book a session
You can make an appointment by contacting me on tel. (+45) 53 64 64 90, by e-mail at kontakt@terapiicentrum.dk or by filling in the contact form on this page.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions in advance.
I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Contact Information
TERAPI I CENTRUM
Havnegade 49 GF, 1058 København K
(+45) 53 64 64 90
kontakt@terapiicentrum.dk
CVR no.: 44004771
Member of Dansk Psykoterapeutforening