About me
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:10, The Bible)
Brief biography
Dr. med. Silke Collins-Tracey
MSc PGDip (Couns) CAS
Member FMH und SGfB
Coach, counsellor, doctor
- Many years of experience as a doctor in clinical medicine and in qualitative research. Specialist areas: palliative care, internal medicine, geriatrics, psychiatry
- Many years of experience in accompanying individuals and those close to them in difficult life situations (e.g. in palliative care and psychiatry)
- International work in a variety of cultural environments, with adults and children, in England, Germany, Australia and Switzerland
- Experienced mentor and lecturer
- Postgraduate Diploma of Counselling (Australian College of Applied Psychology, Sydney, Australia)
- MSc (Sloan) in Management, Strategy and Leadership (London Business School, London, UK)
- CAS in Healthcare Management (Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland)
- Further education in teaching Pilates
- Local church involvement
- Languages: German, English
- The role I love best: wife and mother of two teenage children
In my work as a doctor it has always been my contact with patients on a human and personal level that I have found the most fulfilling. To sit by someone's bed, to hear their life story and to share their pain – in the palliative care ward, for instance – often just by sitting silently with them, has moved me profoundly time and again.
We can experience each other in our humanity and in our vulnerability – and still, we can very often sense that we have an inner strength, a spark of the soul that makes us unique and strong. It is my desire to help others to nurture and foster this spark, particularly during difficult times.
Exceptionally normal
Recognising my own high sensitivity was a particularly important piece of the puzzle of my own life journey. I had somehow tried for so long to be like everyone else, and as a result I often ignored my own feelings. I remember all too well that as a child I was often regarded as too fragile and too touchy, a little bit like a mimosa.
However, the more I tried to be someone other than my true self, the more difficult and strenuous it became. Treating myself with the attentiveness, kindness and self-compassion that I had found so easy to show towards my patients, and accepting my own vulnerability has given me greater lightness, thankfulness and joy. And I have finally started to accept my strengths, my gifts and my calling.
Just recently, on a family visit to Australia, I was looking at a mimosa in a botanical garden, and realised – yes, mimosas are wonderful flowers, too. Just like all the other flowers.
Allow yourself to be delicate
So it is my desire to accompany people on their own individual journey, to encourage them to accept themselves as they really are, and to allow themselves to be delicate and sensitive too.
I see myself as a companion offering the opportunity to spend time together in a safe environment, helping you to find the strength and courage to accept yourself and your own individual path.
We can achieve fresh inner confidence and tranquillity. Just like mountains that stand side-by-side, quiet and strong, confident in their own uniqueness.
Encountering one's own uniqueness
My work today combines elements of coaching and counselling, underpinned by my medical background. But my work goes beyond the medical to involve an encounter with the inner person, combined with a deep trust that we can gain (or regain) our inner strength and wisdom through self acceptance, self compassion and thankfulness.
This journey inwards can lead us to experience ourselves as spiritual beings once more, in an interconnectedness of body, mind and spirit.