About Me
My name is Sim Burton. Below you'll find information about my credentials, but I think it's only fair that my clients get to know a bit more about me as a person, beyond my education and experience.
I moved to Scotland in the summer of 2019 from the United States, where I was born and raised. I describe myself as a nerd in many different senses. When I'm not at work, I'm often reading research, writing a book I hope to publish, working on electronics projects, crocheting, folk dancing, playing music, writing music, or cooking. Prior to moving, I was an active part of a wonderful Jewish community, and I have remained connected with this community, as well as several online disability and neurodiversity communities.
I credit the sociopolitical atmosphere of my home country for my development of a dry wit and love of obscure internet culture. This is only further enabled by my husband, a media anthropologist who describes himself as having gotten a PhD in memes. I believe that just because therapy concerns itself with challenging topics, it doesn't mean we can't have a good laugh, even about those very same things! Therapy should be personalised to what you as an individual need and how you see the world, and made memorable so that the progress we make in session stays with you outside of the office.
Qualifications
Approach and Background
I use an integrative approach with an overarching framework of feminist counseling theory. This theory is based on the idea that counselors and clients are collaborating on equal footing with each other and that problems that are traditionally thought of as problems within the person usually originate from societal or interpersonal contexts. Within that, I often use a systemic and existential approach, looking at relationships with the self, loved ones, work/school/professional contexts, and larger systems, and how patterns of interaction (good, bad, and otherwise) are sustained. I also sometimes incorporate gestalt concepts, where the focus is on present experience and internal conflicts, and logotherapy, which focuses on incorporating past struggles and trauma into a positive conception of the self and creating personal meaning.
