Counseling Approach

I view therapy as an alliance with you in which we work together on issues that you are concerned about. I use a variety of therapies because each therapy seems to have it's own strengths. We'll talk about them as we need to, but here's a quick overview:

In Relational Therapy, we'll talk quite a bit.  We'll focus on what is happening in the moment between us. In the process, we'll discover ways you relate and allow you to rework some of your old patterns in order to improve your present relationships. During our sessions, I will often focus on core feelings and your felt experience. Some of my emphasis on feelings, and not just ways of thinking, has roots in AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy-by Dr. Diana Fosha). AEDP was developed in an effort to speed up the therapeutic process and help clients to make deep internal changes. I strive to help my clients have effective therapy sessions.

I've found some clients don't change very quickly if we just talk in therapy, so I use a number of new therapies that I believe often go deeper and are effective. One of those new therapies is called CIMBS (Complex Integration of Multiple Brain Systems: Dr. Albert Sheldon and Beatriz Sheldon developers). It helps people get to know their authentic selves rather quickly. It helps clients become very mindful of the way they react.  It's been great with anxiety issues, helps untangle unhelpful thinking, and helps clients gain a stronger sense of vitality for life and living in the moment.  

I use EMDR to help process trauma (Francine Shapiro was the developer). My training is in Attachment-Focused EMDR (Laurel Parnell) which emphasizes the value of the therapeutic relationship and strengthening your internal resources. EMDR has been shown to be effective for many people in reducing symptoms caused by traumatic experiences including PTSD. 

I'm also trained in Lifespan Integration Therapy ("LI", developed by Peggy Pace). It is designed to help you reduce feelings from trauma as well as see life patterns. I've found it very helpful in teaching the body that a trauma is truly past. It has been effective for treating PTSD and past issues of neglect. LI also helps clients in developing a stronger sense of who they are and what they are about. 

More recently I have been influenced by the work of Dr. Richard Schwartz and his Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach. IFS emphasizes getting to know our internal world which includes parts of us that try to protect us from pain. It also is based on a recognition that we all have an innate Self that is Confident, Curious, and Compassionate, but our protective parts often get in the way of living most fully as ourselves.

As we work together I keep in mind how your body/brain system might be holding trauma so we can help your nervous system relax a bit more. Much of my understanding of body/brain interaction came from a two year training in Somatic Transformation with Dr. Sharon Stanley. I help clients use mindfulness in their everyday lives. I keep in mind research on attachment theory, which is about how early attachments shape our current relationships, and I try to stay attuned to some of the recent developments in trauma research and neuroscience. 

Therapy is not always easy, and there are no guarantees, but the focus of it is for something infinitely valuable: improving your life and relationships. For many people, I have seen therapy provide a space to explore new ways of thinking, being, and feeling. And because I believe we are relational beings, any time one person becomes healthier emotionally, it impacts those around us, and ripples out into our world.