F OR U M BU SIN ESS ISSU E 1 35 | JANUARY
THE FORUM TALKS WITH
David Keighley: Therapy Retreats
T
o be in the company of therapist David Keighley is an education. If therapy is designed to make one stop and really think, acknowledge, learn, accept and change, then David is a conduit and guide to enable that to happen. For the purposes of my visit the relationship between interviewee and interviewer were clearly defined; I came away intrigued and thoughtful. David’s qualifications warrant an article of their own, suffice to say he has held teaching positions in an Adolescent Crisis Unit in a psychiatric hospital and in state and special schools. He has also trained RAF staff in counselling Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and in the Obesity Unit of Addenbrooke's Hospital, as well as posts within Universities. “We were living near Saltash in Cornwall and then near Fowey before moving to Hampshire some twenty years ago now. Having studied theology and psychology I was working as an Anglican clergyman within the church but was also increasing my therapy work. I was able to work part time within the church and work at my therapy practice at the same time. Now I have retired from church life I have returned to my original career as a psychotherapist”. David continues to review neurological research and it’s implications for counselling and is currently studying for a Diploma in philosophy, “It’s the next logical step in a lifetimes study of humanity”. David’s professional development is derived from many different psychological and spiritual sources - Christian and Buddhist teachings, Jung and Socrates, and authors such as the American Bishop Jack Spong and Hampshire’s Krishnamurti. So is his therapy based on brain or soul - science or theology? The answer is both. “Within Christian teaching there are stories and ‘miracles’ that have become increasingly questionable in this age, but it is important to take on the meaning behind them.When Christianity talks of the ‘Resurrection’ I think that it is possible for people to be reborn in the ‘now’ to challenge and ultimately change their problematical thought processes of the past and their behaviour in the future, but my therapies are not exclusively based in Christianity” In March 2016 David launched IIT – Instant Image Therapy – at the Royal Society of Medicine, of which he is a senior associate. He had developed IIT over four decades of evidence based practice which now underpins David’s ‘Therapy Retreats’ business. A business which offers intense, cognitive therapies for a range of emotional conditions, e.g. anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and relationship concerns. The most popular of his couple-therapy retreats is ‘Save your Marriage in Three Days’, designed to rescue a failing relationship.These retreats are
16
located in select rural locations across Hampshire according to client’s requirements.” Some clients like a spa environment, others like a B&B atmosphere, while others want to immerse themselves in private hotel accommodation”. All retreats are on a one to one or one to one couple basis. Whatever the preferred location or type,Therapy Retreats can provide a perfect venue to suit. David’s web site contains many glowing and grateful testimonials to the success of Therapy Retreats. David explains, “It’s crucial to get people away from their everyday life in order to truly help, away from the city, their careers, family and all that goes with that 24/7 contact via phone, email and internet so that they can reflect and truly focus.” It is the findings of our age that David is concerned with, “I believe there are significant problems with unrealistic educational attainment as a starting point, as well as traditional cultural and religious teachings which influence our past and hence our futures. Krishnamurti advocated the consideration and ultimately the rejection of all ideological teaching whether religious or political as a way forward.” In microcosm, David’s cognitive therapies release client’s from those constraints by analysing the notion that living in the fears of the past or the worries of the future are both areas of stress and we should ultimately live the present.Time is, after all, ‘now’. “The brain can be lazy and tries to encourage you to continue living with long term habits from the past. If you are a bad driver the brain will continue to let you drive badly – until you make the effort to change and learn new, better habits. In this current age many people seem to exist in the past.Their conditioning, memories and learnt experiences are allowed to contaminate their present lives. And their concern for their future encourages stress and anxiety concerning things we have no control over.What is missing is our existence in the ‘now’. If we lived in the now, in this very second, in this heart beat then the taught traits of the past would be dissolved and the potential stresses and loss of control regarding a future not yet lived would disappear. I see the education of our children as fundamental to the problems we, and they as adults, will face in the future.The constant drive to achieve, be better, judge others and ourselves without any notion of what makes an individual happy, misses the point of what life is all about. Many people I see have so much materially but happiness is totally missing from their lives. I show them a new take on their life. ” If you would like more information on any aspect of David’s work please visit: www.therapyretreats.com