About Suzanne

Psychoanalyst (C.G. Jung) | Sandplay therapist | myth-and storyteller

Education

BSc Behavioural Neuroscience at Sussex University (UK), MA Media at Sydney University (AU), Jungian psychoanalysis at Jung Academy Amsterdam, Jungian Training at NAAP (IAAP), Sandplay (ISST).

Philosophy

Central to my view of why we pursue therapy is an inherent longing to return to soul. Although we might start with a desire and need to free ourselves from restricting patterns, inherent to soul is a deeper belonging, both within ourselves and within the larger ecology of life.

Personal Background

Since my youth I have been interested in how things are related, and what story is being told. I made my own little studies by observing the natural world, reading and following a gut instinct. That instinct first told me the world is alive and connected in a way I could feel, but not yet explain. When I was 8 years old I asked my father what happens when you die. While he said ‘nothing’, I experienced something infinite. I did not understand it, but examples like these kept me wondering about the nature of life. I followed a deep passion for the Earth and studied Behavioural Neuroscience with a focus on ethology. I pursued an MA in communications to nurture my love for writing and spent a few miserable years in corporate life. In my late twenties, a depression returned me back to my roots. I reconnected to my passion for the Earth and poured both studies into wildlife documentary filmmaking with the intention to connect people into appreciation for and awe of the beauty of Earth.

Psyche and Soma

Pregnancy and motherhood opened me up into unknown spaces, both light and dark. While searching for a reflection to explain and contain my experiences, I stepped into a few ‘new age’ traps before encountering Jungian psychology and a Sufi lineage, all within one month. Aided by bodywork, this period reinvigorated my passion for the world of story that had seeded itself in childhood. I immersed into the feminine psyche and learned the oral art of storytelling.

Interests: the Anima Mundi

Today, this interdisciplinary braiding of Jungian psychology, Sufi mysticism and the natural sciences express themselves in my research and work through a therapeutic approach that honours both spirit (psyche) and matter (body) as one.

My passion springs from the wells of the Anima Mundi (Soul of the World). Since childhood it has guided me to explore the depths of relationship and relating itself. I wrote my thesis on this subject highlighting its importance within the female psyche as an alternative route to the individuation journey and the shift of focus on ‘self’ to ‘other’. While this is being echoed by contemporary sciences, most notably in ecology and quantum physics, in depth psychology it’s best but underrepresented by (feminist) ecopsychology, and can be described as a reciprocal dialogue with and within the Anima Mundi. Here the focus does not lie on the uniting of opposites typical to Jung’s individuation, but on the evolving complexity of relationship with an animated (more-than-human) world.

This passion currently takes me to unearthing the threads of this ancient wisdom tradition in Europe re-entering academic life for further research.

Collaborations

I collaborate in workshops with the Mothership in Hamburg where we explore the collective psyche via art & storytelling in live workshops as well as online.

I am working with a traditional shaman/healer from the (Scandinavian) Sami tradition to learn about their way of ‘holding the story’.