‘Therapy? Are you crazy?’
My cousin’s reaction is only a reflection of how our society perceives the concept of emotional help.
“I think society is now changing as psychotherapy is not a stigma anymore,” claims Tahir Ahmed, CEO of Therapy Works, a psychotherapy, rehabilitation and training institution.
In 2007, Ahmed embarked on the venture of opening such an institute because he believed in providing a mental cover for people. About whether he was discouraged, he says, “I never asked anyone.”
There is no emotional support for people in Pakistan as there are only an estimated 4,000 psychologists and psychiatrists in a country of 170 million, he claims. “Karachi, as it is a bigger city, has bigger problems with people having absolutely no professional emotional support.”
Therapy Works is not “an asylum”, Ahmed is careful to stress. They do not believe in giving medication and putting people away. “We facilitate self-empowerment as we help them find solutions themselves. We specialise in humanistic therapy.”
With a tiny staff of 15 people, Therapy Works claims to help hundreds of people every week. Most of their patients are women with problems dealing with all sorts of trauma - sexual abuse, marital rape, incest and domestic violence.
Older men and women mostly complain about loneliness and maltreatment from their children. “As older people in our society have little to do, we teach them concepts of time structure,” Ahmed explained.
A lot of children from Clifton and Defence visit the institute to fight drug addiction and alcoholism. Parents are helping their children through addictions and some of the children are also referred to Therapy Works by their schools. They are also working with physically and sexually abused children and also with those who have learning disabilities.
The centre also offers couples therapy, generic counselling and special counselling for certain cases. Patients also participate in support groups for people dealing with trauma, divorce and abuse.
The institute also has a rehab that can accommodate up to 12 patients. “Our addiction therapy is known as motivation interviewing as we work with the slogan ‘I can get well’ rather than making them feel shameful and sinful,” said Ahmed, adding, “We believe in listening with empathy, unconditional positive regard and genuineness so that people can heal without medicines.”
Their rehab course includes 30 days of residential treatment and 11 months of out-patient treatment.
Tahir Ahmed has done a two-year diploma in psychotherapy from the UK and is now training people by replicating the same degree in Karachi. They are training 25 people from each province, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir, for two years to become certified counsellors with British accreditation. “This trained counselling workforce will be sent back to their hometowns where we will start opening up basic emotional health units,” he said while informing The Express Tribune of plans.
Therapy Works also conducts training sessions at the institute for which specialists from the UK and France give lectures on humanistic therapy, psychotherapy, body-and-mind therapy and transpersonal therapy.
However, the institute is expensive: it charges Rs2,000 an hour for a session. But what about reaching out to every member of society? “We are opening a charity wing soon,” Ahmed assured.
On what happens to patients after their rehab sessions are over, he said that Therapy Works keeps in touch with all its patients. “We even try to find jobs for some of them. It’s about overcoming your inner angst and turning a new leaf.”
Published in The Express Tribune September 7th, 2010.
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