Thus the relationship which I have found helpful is characterized by a sort of transparency on my part, in which my real feelings are evident; by an acceptance of this other person as a separate person with value in his own right; and a deep empathic understanding which enables me to see his private world through his eyes. When these conditions are achieved, I become a companion to my client, accompanying him in the frightening search for himself, which he now feels free to undertake. (Carl Rogers, 1961)
What kind of therapy do I believe in?
I believe in a therapy that trusts in human resilience and our innate wisdom. I believe in a therapy that looks to the past, to make sense of the present, and to make positive changes for the future.
I believe my role, as a therapist is to encourage, empower, bear witness and at times help make connections, educate, and guide.
And, I believe in a therapy that is transparent, experiential, body focused, respectful, passionate, authentic, and engaged.
I believe in a therapy that trusts in the wisdom of the body and our emotions.
I do NOT believe in a therapy that pathologizes, labels, condemns, or blames us for our inability to change our emotions or thoughts.
I believe that healing and growth are always possible.
I believe lasting change comes from having a real, healing relationship with an attuned, caring, trusted other.
I believe our life experiences greatly affect our therapeutic style and approach.
What is my therapeutic approach?
I use an integrative approach, meaning that I integrate a few different theories and personalize my approach for each clients needs and goals for therapy.
I primarily work from these models:
DEEP (Dynamic Enriched Experiential Psychotherapy)- DEEP, based on AEDP, is an experiential, emotion focused, and attachment-based model grounded in the latest research in interpersonal neurobiology. Attachment theory understands that secure attachment is necessary for emotional exploration and positive transformation. And insecure attachment is at the heart of many of our issues including addiction, anxiety and so much more.
Somatic Experiencing - SE is a powerful trauma modality that looks to the body for wisdom and understands that trauma is held in the body and needs to be processed and released somatically. I have been training in this complex modality since 2013.
NARM (Neuro-affective relational model)- NARM is a wonderful trauma modality that focuses on childhood trauma and looks to both bottom up and top down methods to heal early trauma. This means looking to the body for healing as well as working with cognitive distortions. I am formally trained in NARM.
Depth Psychology -Depth believes that our desires, impulses, motivations and fears originate from the unconscious. Depth looks to Jung's work for inspiration.
I also utilize mindfulness , pulling from my 35-year meditation practice, and creative modalities ; pulling from my art and design background.
For more information on my credentials, and training please see About me .