East West Wisdoms

Dr Jacqui Dodds PhD (W.Aust); BSW Hon. (Curtin);  AASW (Accredited) Accredited Mental Health Worker (Medicare)

Psychotherapist/Counsellor/Researcher/Author

Based in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland of Queensland, Australia and offering supervision and psychotherapy by phone or in person. To contact me for an appointment email me on jacqui@EastWestWisdoms.com.

Who am I?

I am a working psychotherapist with a strong spiritual interest.

My passion is to form a bridge linking the wisdoms of Western psychology with the wisdoms of Buddhist psychology.

My aspiration is to live and work in an open, inquiring manner that goes beyond the confines of any particular religion or dogma.

My wish is to use every moment, every experience and every contact with another person, to help uncover what promotes suffering and what promotes wellbeing. What is it to be human? What promotes healing and a sense of fulfillment and purpose in life?

I am guided by the view that we are all thoroughly conditioned beings, largely motivated by forgotten, repressed or ignored previous learning. Much of this learning and consequent motivating assumptions are hidden in the unconscious but result in habituated emotional, psychological and physical reactions to what is happening right now. My interest is in bringing awareness to what we are doing, thinking and feeling and how repetitive patterns of cause and effect can be understood and changed to bring more rewarding results.

Background

I have been a Buddhist meditation practitioner in the Tibetan Kargyu lineage since 1982 and, in more recent years, have periodically taught meditation and basic Buddhist principles to interested members of the public. Over the years, I have been fortunate to attend many spiritual retreats, led by a range of wise and compassionate teachers, and each of these retreats have stimulated major change, growth and healing. I also teach several units of a Diploma in Buddhist Psychotherapy offered in Australia by Sophia College.

This interest in Buddhist thought and practice, and the birth of my third child (ten years after my second child) led me to switch from working as a clay potter to train as a counsellor and social worker. In addition to long term meditation practice, academic and psychotherapeutic training, I believe that my work with clay, nature, building my own house of wood and mud brick (with my partner) and rearing my three children have provided the essential grounding and learning base for who I am today.

To look after my body (that suffers from spinal stenosis and arthritis), I do Tai Chi and Chi Kung most days, usually first thing in the morning before meditating. The doctor who read my X-rays showing spinal stenosis  ten years or so ago, expressed surprise a few years after the diagnosis that I was not in a wheelchair. I am convinced that it is the Tai Chi and Chi Kung that keep my body flexible and reasonably operational.

For details on my professional training and background as a psychotherapist, counsellor, researcher, writer and clinical supervisor, see “Buddhist Psychotherapy & Supervision” on the menu at top of web page.