About

Seva Counselling Margaret River

VP established Margaret River Breathwork in 2016 to work with clients in trauma

release and healing through investigation of the harmful programs and belief systems driving people’s discomfort with life.

Scores of clients have experienced the benefit of cathartic-style breathwork and guided psychotherapy sessions to remove blockages, undo long-held core beliefs, and find greater clarity of mind and purpose.

However, after years of working with clients in this modality, VP saw shortcomings in therapy services offered through breathwork alone. Clients often experienced what people on Instagram call “profound transformation” only to return a few months later still struggling with many of the same difficulties.

It was clear that lasting change was only possible when the somatic (bodily) aspects of therapy were integrated with a deeper examination of the processes of the mind combined with an attitude of warm welcoming and acceptance.

In essence, VP saw many people benefitted from “bucketing out” trauma and density through breathwork, but then filled themselves back up again because the thinking and behaviour creating those difficulties continued largely unchanged.

Furthermore, VP sees these two approaches (talking and feeling) are best combined with an understanding of mindfulness – the Western term drawing upon the ancient wisdom of the Buddhist, Taoist and Stoic traditions and their observations about the role of the mind in the experience of life and suffering.

VP is a breathwork-based psychotherapist and holds a doctorate in philosophy based in psychoanalysis and Lacanian semiotic theory.

Apart from his own intensive inner work, VP has specialised in Dr Thomas Gordon’s parent effectiveness training and Marshall Rosenberg’s non-violent communication, taught at Murdoch University, run groups and teams, worked as a professional writer, communicator, speaker and conflict analyst, and studied everything from existential philosophy to the shadow work pioneered by Carl Jung.

In his role working with parents, VP also draws upon more than two decades of experience as a father of five, offering an insight equally applicable to couples, single parents, LGBT parents, and foster carers, guardians and mentors.