Piscatorial Therapy

When I started training as a counsellor, it was in person-centred therapy. I became enamoured with Carl Rogers's works; I loved the book 'on becoming a person. The realisation that as a therapist in training, I was learning more about myself and becoming aware of how I operate in this world. The complexities of myself influenced and moulded by internal and external views and experiences of the world.

“With silken line and delicate hook, I wander into a myriad of ripples and find freedom...” Li Yu, Fisherman's Song

Over the years since qualifying as a counsellor and working as an integrative practitioner, I have learned about the varying approaches to counselling, including Solution Focussed, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, learning Motivational Interviewing techniques and strategies that have given me an array of tools to better support clients coming to therapy.

However, I have never forgotten Carl Rogers's work, the journey to finding out who we are and becoming more at peace and in sync with ourselves. I feel a greater focus has been growing of late, over the last decade, in relation to mindfulness. The art of finding inner peace. Reaching a state of consciousness and awareness, where the person becomes more involved in their own life.

So why angling? This was something that I realised was my kind of mindfulness. I was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago. I would often find myself overwhelmed with thoughts and ruminations that gave rise to feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. When I first went fishing about 15 years ago as an adult, I felt like I'd found a space in my head that could be still and calm. The thing I liked about angling was the anticipation, uncertainty, and realisation that I never knew what would happen. I also liked the simplicity of angling, an evening session with a fishing rod, a net and a loaf of bread, and finally finding my ability to focus on the one piece of floating crust underneath an overhanging willow tree, patiently waiting for the slurp of a hungry carp was exhilarating. I became enthused, buying more rods and reels, buying new types of artificial baits and boilies, and I went fishing whenever I got the time.

Around this time, I became aware of an angling writer called Chris Yates, who had gained notoriety as an angling eccentric who broke the world record by catching a record-sized carp at Redmire pond in the eighties and became a personality thanks to the beautiful BBC television show 'A Passion For Angling'. His book 'How to Fish' probably taught me as much about becoming an angler as Carl Roger's 'On Becoming A Person.'

It was only recently, in the last couple of years, that I began to feel weighed down by the learning, the techniques and tools, the theories and how they interact and contradict that I became aware that I was trying too hard to be a counsellor, similarly, on the pond. I was more rushed, more hurried. It took me longer to set up; I was spending more time trying to think of how I would catch a fish on the surface? With a float or freeline? Ledger off the bottom, or pop up boilie? Than actually fishing...

“In my relationships with persons, I have found that it does not help, in the long run, to act as though I were something that I am not.” Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy.

It was time to look at it another way and change my perspective.

“The simpler your approach, the more intimately you ard involved; untroubled by a barrow of equipment, untroubled by the passage of time” (Chris Yates – How to Fish)

There’s always an element of patience when angling—quite a lot of not very much happening. As someone with ADHD, not very much happening is a difficult thing; at times, I think I need to move about, be active. I’m learning to try and be still, to wait, and to be observant.

Then it’s noticing the indicators, the twitch of the rod tip, the slight judder of the quill on the surface, telling me there is almost something there, there’s maybe something there. I get this with clients, an indicator, a twitch, a look sometimes, or it can be the tone of voice. Let’s me know that’s something happening, something just beneath the surface.

Then a different tact, a change of bait, and suddenly things start happening more, the silver foil over the line starts to jump more, knocking the line, a subtle change of approach and more is revealed, like asking a different question or reframing a statement, or sometimes, just sitting back and letting the silence speak.

Angling is about waiting and watching. Observing the minutiae, taking time and being still. This is something I’m learning; I can sit by a pond with a split cane rod and net, and not even cast once, because I’m waiting for the right conditions, and this brings me back to Carl Rogers and the necessary and sufficient conditions that can bring about change.

Sometimes when a client comes for counselling, there is waiting too. Waiting for something to happen, or something to change, to get better. Sometimes people want something to make them feel better immediately.

As a counsellor, I’m often waiting too for a new referral or for the client to arrive for their first appointment. Of course, this is nothing compared to the waiting to see if they’ll come back for their second appointment.

In the room, there is waiting too, and patience. Waiting for the client to speak or stop speaking, waiting for the silence, the quiet tick of the clocks, sounds from another room, the birds in nearby trees, the rustling of clothes, the soundtrack to the counsellor’s room. Here patience is required, as I let the client tell their story in their time. Being still and present allows me to do this. To become aware of my client’s story and its nuance allows me to hold the space for them, letting them know it is safe to do so.

For me, counselling and fishing can be interchangeable, the hope of a connection, and although I sometimes think I’m going to go somewhere deep, land something huge, all I manage to reel in is a little 1lb roach. A beautiful silver orange-tipped roach. Exquisite to look at and perfectly formed. Not what I’d planned, and although I had wished for more, this gift, like anything the client brings of their truth, is quite beautiful to hold and behold.

The overwhelming stillness amidst this nature business is akin to the room with the client, so quiet and yet so full, of so much.

Out of these two different parts of me came Piscatorial Therapy, this idea that if I approach my clients like I’m learning to approach my angling, with caution, curiosity, with patience, and with the essentials, then the possibility of connection, a deeper connection can be made.

In the counselling room, the conditions are put in place by how I am with the client. Building and connecting with them in their time, through their story, their pain allows the change to occur. Creating those conditions that Carl Rogers often spoke of.

By being warm and understanding, demonstrating empathy and authenticity. The relationship between client and counsellor develops. It astounds me to think that this basic tenet of building friendships in our personal lives can be missed when working in a professional environment. Those very conditions which enable a friend to feel safe can be replicated in any professional room. It helps to demystify the client counsellor relationship when they are greeted warmly, openly and with genuineness. It allows the client to see the counsellor as a fellow. A human, being human. As in angling, if I can provide those three facilitating conditions of empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive conditions, like when angling, I will make a different kind of connections.

I’m learning to be more simplistic in my approach to counselling. I’m trying NOT to resort to psychological tricks but to create a space for the client to feel okay. To allow them to move at their pace, not mine. It’s not a race but a journey, and there are far many more wonders to see if we take our time. “Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop once in a while and take a look, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller.

I’m learning to take a more simplistic approach to angling too. A more natural approach. Simple tackle, simple baits, and essential tea making equipment. Sometimes the conditions aren’t quite right. That’s OK; sometimes it’s not about actually catching the fish, sometimes it’s about the act of going fishing, and if I allow myself to create the right conditions, I may not catch a fish, but I can catch so much more.