Dylan Burns Counselling

19/04/2022

Why I believe somatic work should be founded on good relational therapy.

Why somatic work needs to be supported by relational therapy.

08/02/2022

Low Cost Counselling

There are currently three spaces for low cost therapy. If interested why not get in touch?

14/10/2019

19/04/2019

Dame Janet Baker--Mezzo-soprano Raymond Leppard--Conductor English Chamber Orchestra 1967

19/04/2019

“He was despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah, 53:3)

These words are at the heart of one of British culture’s most central works, the “Messiah”, written some 300 years ago by the German composer Handel. Radio 4’s Today programme featured a piece on the “Messiah” this morning, which took me back to times I’ve heard it, and even sung parts in a choir myself. Although I’m not a Christian, by either birth or choice, I was deeply moved by these words today, on Good Friday, the traditional day of Christ’s crucifixion.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to listen to it yourself in this beautiful version by Janet Baker.

Every religion has its particular quality, its gift to the world and, whatever else it has done for good or ill, Christianity is about this moment: Christ on the cross, God suffering.

We have all felt “despised, rejected of men”. We could all speak of ourselves as a man, or woman, or sorrows. We are all, very much, acquainted with grief. In that hour of despair, fear and grief, we feel ourselves to be not only suffering, but also utterly alone, friendless, hated, despised. Whatever it is that we hold sacred and precious, we are in that moment so estranged from it, so vile and abject, that it would be accurate to say, this is hell.

Here, in beautiful and heartbreaking music, we learn that Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the divine on earth, suffered just as we do. He cried out on the cross to God, “why have you forsaken me?”

This is the essential point of this myth: He was not pretending to suffer, and nor do we.

The truth is that, in the words of the novelist Saul Bellow, “there is a darkness”. And that’s why Christ is important – if he is – not as an image of cosy kindness, but of utter lostness, rejection, abandonment. Only if God’s grace can encompass the very worst, can we – or should we – believe in it. No healing, or salvation, that bypasses the depths of the pit of shame is worth consideration.

All that is left to us in the deepest terror is, perhaps, beauty. And that is why a piece of music such as this is necessary. It offers a consolation – the only genuine consolation that there can be – that when we come to the worst, we are not alone.

https://www.kevinburnscounselling.co.uk/good-friday/

Dame Janet Baker--Mezzo-soprano Raymond Leppard--Conductor English Chamber Orchestra 1967

19/04/2019

“He was despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah, 53:3)

These words are at the heart of one of British culture’s most central works, the “Messiah”, written some 300 years ago by the German composer Handel. Radio 4’s Today programme featured a piece on the “Messiah” this morning, which took me back to times I’ve heard it, and even sung parts in a choir myself. Although I’m not a Christian, by either birth or choice, I was deeply moved by these words today, on Good Friday, the traditional day of Christ’s crucifixion.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to listen to it yourself. Here is a beautiful version by Janet Baker:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o30OsaMBNc

Every religion has its particular quality, its gift to the world and, whatever else it has done for good or ill, Christianity is about this moment: Christ on the cross, God suffering.

We have all felt “despised, rejected of men”. We could all speak of ourselves as a man, or woman, or sorrows. We are all, very much, acquainted with grief. In that hour of despair, fear and grief, we feel ourselves to be not only suffering, but also utterly alone, friendless, hated, despised. Whatever it is that we hold sacred and precious, we are in that moment so estranged from it, so vile and abject, that it would be accurate to say, this is hell.

Here, in beautiful and heartbreaking music, we learn that Jesus Christ, the incarnation of the divine on earth, suffered just as we do. He cried out on the cross to God, “why have you forsaken me?”

This is the essential point of this myth: He was not pretending to suffer, and nor do we.

The truth is that, in the words of the novelist Saul Bellow, “there is a darkness”. And that’s why Christ is important – if he is – not as an image of cosy kindness, but of utter lostness, rejection, abandonment. Only if God’s grace can encompass the very worst, can we – or should we – believe in it. No healing, or salvation, that bypasses the depths of the pit of shame is worth consideration.

All that is left to us in the deepest terror is, perhaps, beauty. And that is why a piece of music such as this is necessary. It offers a consolation – the only genuine consolation that there can be – that when we come to the worst, we are not alone.

“He was despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah, 53:3) These words are at the heart of one of British culture’s most central works, the “Messiah”, written some 300 years ago by the German composer Handel. Radio 4’s Today programme featured a piece ...

28/03/2018

Some thoughts on poetry, imagery and how to work with it by using the Tarot.

Images speak to us in a way that explanations do not. Here I explore how a counsellor can work with image therapeutically, in relation to dream, art and by use of tools such as the Tarot deck.

16/02/2018

Counselling is not about strategies, disciplines, reading lists, tips, tricks or life-hacks. You can get those anywhere. Counselling is - or should be - a unique experience of human relationship.

05/02/2018

It's popularly believed that our thoughts control our feelings and actions, but the truth is quite the reverse. Furthermore, our emotions are built up from bodily processes of which we are usually unaware. Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a technique to bring these processes into awareness and thereby bring healing to the bodymind.

It's popularly believed that our thoughts control out emotions, but the truth is quite the reverse. Furthermore, our emotions are built up from bodily processes of which we are scarcely aware. Somatic Experiencing (SE) is one method of working with these fundamental processes of the bodymind.

30/12/2017

An insightful piece on depression and how therapy can make a difference in a fairly short space of time. If the author were to spend more time working on it with her therapist, she'd have a chance of getting rid of it, too.

It’s true when they say pains that don’t get discussed aren’t perceived as important or even real to the rest of the world.

19/07/2017

Doctors and healthcare professionals need to listen to young people and open up to the health and wellbeing benefits that the arts can bring