RIVIERA WELLBEING
Riviera Wellbeing was founded by Monaco resident, Gavin Sharpe. After several years running his own global company, Gavin qualified as a psychotherapist. Today he works with individuals and couples helping them achieve their life’s potential.
“The key to being successful here is discretion,” says Gavin. “We live in an ex-pat goldfish bowl. What my clients want to know first and foremost is whether our work is confidential. It is.”
Gavin moved to Monaco approximately 5 years ago giving up his thriving U.K. practice. Is there a significant difference in working with clients on the Riviera? Gavin states “People are people. Broadly speaking, we have the same problems, anxieties and fears wherever we live. How can I be happy? How do I fall in love and stay in love? How do I manage loss? What sex do I want? What’s my purpose in life? What’s my definition of wellbeing?”
These are the existential questions that people bring to therapy. These questions have never been more relevant than during these current times. Gavin asserts that the opportunity of the pandemic is for all of us to create meaning in our lives.
Sometimes the work is carried out on a weekly basis and often Gavin works more intensively with clients over a few days so that we can dive deeper into the work. One size does certainly not fit all.
Gavin has written for the national as local media and is currently writing his first book on achieving a sense of wellbeing.
Gavin states “One of my favourite quotes is that life must be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards.” He is passionate about collaborating with others to understand where they have come from in order to help them navigate where they are headed.
In a nutshell, we all deserve to live the life that we were born capable of living. Who were you created to be?
About Riviera Wellbeing
We offer a range of wellbeing services to individuals and couples enabling them to create meaning and purpose in their lives. Our vision is to empower others to fulfil their potential.
As well as offering individual and couples counselling and psychotherapy, we bring wellbeing workshops and courses to the Riviera.
Our core services are:
Individual Wellbeing
Couples Wellbeing
Sexual Wellbeing
Financial Wellbeing
Therapy Intensives
Individual Wellbeing
There are times in life when we feel stuck or lost. Gavin believes that within all of us lies the resources to live the life that we were born capable of living. As adults, we often find that we have lost the person that we were created to be.
People seek support for many different reasons, including:
• Addiction • Depression • Anxiety • Sexually compulsive behaviours • Loss and bereavement • Trauma • Family and Relationship difficulties • Difficulties in relation to sexuality and sexual identity • HIV/AIDS • Workplace issues • Stress • Isolation • Identity issues • Low self-esteem and self-worth
Couples Wellbeing
Most relationships go through difficult times. Each individual in the couple can end up feeling frustrated, stuck, isolated, angry and/or resentful.
Sometimes the problems are of a sexual nature where perhaps there are differences in sexual desire within the relationship.
A couple may be struggling to come to terms with the impact of infidelity on the relationship.
Gavin offers relationship counselling to couples to help them identify and overcome what he terms our relationship blockers. He also runs private intensive weekends for couples as well couple retreats.
Sexual Wellbeing
Seeking help for our sexual wellbeing can be overwhelming. We can feel embarrassed, insecure or shameful. Many of us want to know whether what we like and do in the bedroom is “normal”. What does a healthy sex life look like?
There are many reasons why we might seek help for our sexual wellbeing. There may be issues surrounding performance or a change in desire caused by difficult life circumstances, addictions or pregnancy.
Most sexual problems are psychological (although one of the first steps in seeking help is to determine whether there are any medical issues that need to be addressed.)
Gavin also works with individuals who experience problems due to sexually compulsive behaviours.
Financial Wellbeing
Few of us take the time to invest in our financial health. Money is our number one source of stress. The more we worry about money, the greater the potential damage to our mental health. At its extreme, a money disorder may lead to unhealthy behaviours such as gambling, workaholism, hoarding, financial abuse, overspending or underspending.
We may make basic assumptions such as money is good, or money is bad. Those assumptions are typically unconscious and stem from what we learned about money in our childhood. They drive our behaviours and can adversely affect our emotional wellbeing.
A common assumption is that the more wealth we have, the happier we will be. We may find ourselves chasing never-ending dreams that promise to make us wealthier. Alternatively, we may believe that we don’t deserve wealth and avoid accumulating it and sabotage our own success.
Therapy Intensives
Whereas conventional therapy typically consists of weekly meetings which take place at the same time and on the same day each week, an intensive therapy program usually lasts between two to seven days.
Intensive therapy is specifically goal-driven, highly focused and often more in-depth. During a concentrated block of time, individuals or couples are able to dig deep and often progress more rapidly than conventional therapy affords.
This type of work often suits individuals or couples who cannot commit to weekly therapy perhaps due to their schedules. The work is also suited to those seeking to make transformational changes in a relatively short period of time or to process complex trauma.
In summary, therapy intensives are highly concentrated, proven to be effective and create an opportunity for tremendous progress to be made in a relatively short amount of time.
About Gavin Sharpe
Riviera Wellbeing was founded by Gavin Sharpe. Gavin is a U.K. qualified psychotherapist, relationship/psychosexual therapist and executive coach. He is also an accredited life and executive coach, a certified sex addiction therapist and an accredited, international trauma specialist.
Gavin holds a master’s degree in Integrative Psychotherapy and Counselling. He is a registered member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (MBACP).
Gavin qualified as a lawyer and subsequently worked as an entrepreneur in the city of London running his own global company prior to becoming a psychotherapist.
Gavin offers a safe and confidential space in Monaco (and online) for others to explore the reality of their lives, discover their true selves and achieve their full potential.
