Therapy Approach

It is important to understand what therapy is and what it can do for you. My approach involves trauma-informed depth psychotherapy. We’ll start by working together to come to an understanding of each person, couple, or family in their own relational and cultural context, which is a form of narrative therapy. Sessions can involve discussion, somatic exercises, or movement practices as a way to facilitate the emotion that comes from telling your story. We will talk about psychotherapy theory as it applies to you and your situation. There will be an ongoing creative process to develop clear action steps for you to make changes in your life.

When clients are experiencing acute distress, our primary goal is to figure out how to help resolve the emotional crisis at hand. We’ll look at ways to find some calm through self-healing practices and behavioral changes. Shifting your habits and how you feel takes time, effort, and patience.

I think there are three basic parts to clients’ development of their emotional fluency and interpersonal communication skill. First, clients must become adept at experiencing their own feelings, allowing those feelings to move through them. Then the client learns to express those feelings to others in a way that is effective, and to understand what motivates their feelings. Finally, clients learn to attend to others so that they can witness and support the same first two steps in other people. This process is then integrated into the way we approach relationship with ourselves and others, and practiced throughout life. As your therapist, I encourage this process by helping you have your feelings. I am there to witness your experience, and this often feels supportive. The action I then take is to tell you what I am thinking and feeling, to honestly convey my own experience as I respond to you. As a result, you learn to more vulnerably and assertively convey yourself to me, and to one another in couples and family sessions. This process will also help you hone your ability to attend to others. I can be quite direct, and this may be challenging, but every interaction we have is an opportunity to create depth and strength in our relationship. This is training for you to do this in your other relationships.

For those who are already familiar with this process, therapy is an opportunity to practice and strengthen relationship skills. Therapy can be a crucial resource at times of crisis or when you have lost track of the things that keep you healthy. In addressing long-term issues, it is important to identify what you are working towards and continually examine that process so that therapy does not become repetitive and stagnant.