We believe that experiencing psychological distress can be a normal aspect of experiencing a full and meaningful life. But we also believe that there are ways of increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes in responding to life challenges.
We believe that even when people are faring relatively well there are psychological strategies that can even further enhance their wellbeing, especially from the field of Positive Psychology.
Our mission is to improve mental health services locally and beyond. Our overall aim is to encourage an optimistic approach to mental health and wellbeing.
We nonetheless do not underestimate the challenge that people face in tackling significant mental health or life problems. Our ongoing education of the wider community is aimed at helping people recognize the nature of those challenges and their possible solutions.
A more detailed explanation of our philosophy is reflected in a description of symbols on our practice sculpture.
Our practice sculpture by local artist Leonie Amerena is situated at the 42 Villamanta Street building. This work incorporates traditional symbolic images which refer to such themes as cycles of life, unity of opposites, balance, harmony and growth. From a psychological perspective, it reflects themes of awareness, acceptance and integrating different aspects of our personality to help us be more whole.
The sculpture has been designed to indicate that even though we offer services that focus on a psychological dimension, we remain aware of a spiritual or transpersonal dimension to life, beyond the material, which is important to our sense of meaning in life, growth and wellbeing.
Two especially important symbols are located at the top and bottom of the sculpture. The one at the 12 o’clock position is called phi, which relates to the golden ratio. This ratio (approximately 1.618) occurs throughout nature and other living systems such as the ratio between spirals on a nautilus shell, the positioning of the eyes on a human face or the elbow in relation to an arm. Even the stock market revolves around this ratio! Artists and craftsmen from ancient times have used this ratio to add further aesthetic appeal to their paintings and buildings.
In psychology, the golden mean relates symbolically to the optimal balance of positive to negative thoughts or the optimal use of a virtue (for example, courage is a virtue, but too much courage is recklessness and too little represents cowardice). The optimal balance depends on a particular situation at a particular time.
The symbol at the 6 o’clock position, psi, is the standard symbol for psychology. It is also a symbol of paranormal phenomena as well as a symbol for principles that apply in quantum mechanics.
The two symbols, phi and psi, have been symbolically integrated and incorporated in our new logo to represent a transformational process. This represents our philosophy that psychology, transpersonal phenomena and quantum mechanics can be integrated in transformational experiences such as the mindful use of synchronicity. These principles will be spelt out in Chris’s book due for international release in September 2015 entitled, “Synchronicity: Unwrapping a Gift From the Universe”.