Helping You To Access Your Inner Strength
You have inner resources. You may not be aware of them, or you might not know how to access them, but they exist within you, and they can help you to become more resilient, to understand your needs and strengths, and to make a conscious shift to a better life.
Developing those resources is the first thing we’ll do in our work together. We’ll figure out what is helpful to you, and how we can integrate those constructive practices into your everyday experience. We’ll harness the power of those inner resources to make positive neurological and emotional changes.
The modalities I practice are based on Interpersonal Neurobiology, and so I understand the connections connections between mind, body, and relationships, and can help you to reclaim health in those aspects of your life. I use variety of counseling methods, including:
Treatment Methods
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a widely accepted and scientifically proven therapy that can help your brain reprocess old information. This physiologically based therapy often uses eye movements (believed to be connected with the same mechanisms involved in Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep) to help you see traumatic events in a less disturbing way, and produces results in less time than many conventional therapies. And though other types of therapy may require you to discuss your memories with your therapist, EMDR can prove successful without full disclosure of the details of the painful event. Even better, EMDR therapy can help you to not just “get past” or “work through” disturbing events, but to feel empowered by your strength in surviving them.
While recognized as an effective treatment for trauma, EMDR can also help you deal with commonplace memories that may hold you back from your optimal life, and can even be helpful in reducing stress.
You may want to try this innovative modality if you experience:
- PTSD
- Phobias
- Pain
- Performance anxiety
- Abuse
IFS
“IFS is a transformative tool that conceives of every human being as a system of protective and wounded inner parts led by a core Self. We believe the mind is naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Just like members of a family, inner parts are forced from their valuable states into extreme roles within us. Self is in everyone. It can’t be damaged. It knows how to heal….IFS creates inner and outer connectedness by helping people first access their Self and, from that core, come to understand and heal their parts.
But IFS is much more than a non-pathologizing evidence-based psychotherapy to be used in a clinical setting. It is also a way of understanding personal and intimate relationships and stepping into life with the 8 Cs: confidence, calm, compassion, courage, creativity, clarity, curiosity, and connectedness….The mission of IFS Institute is to bring more Self leadership to the world.
- Anxiety
- Increasing self-compassion
- Internal polarizations or conflicts
- Inner critic experiences
- Stuck relational patterns
Learn more
IFS-Informed EMDR
IFS-Informed EMDR is a powerful blend of the gifts of both EMDR and IFS, that ultimately is a very powerful tool for self-growth and healing. It is especially useful in situations in which a client feels like they are “looping” meaning going over the same material without resolution. It is a compassion-based therapy that includes precepts from both Cognitive Repressing and Memory Consolidation.
- Attachment concerns
- CPTSD
- Altering chronic patterns in relationships with self and others
- Increasing self-compassion
Learn more
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a path to the mind-body link where you can make positive change at a neurological level. By working mindfully, you can slow down your experience and engage your brain’s safety system (the amygdala). For example, if a previous experience has left you stuck in fight-or-flight-or-freeze mode, moving slowly and mindfully communicates to your safety control center that everything is okay now, and it does so in a way that talk alone can’t do.
You may want to try mindfulness-based therapy if you experience:
- Stress
- Phobias
- Anxiety
- Emotional issues
- Relationship issues
- Pain
- Problems with self-esteem
Motivational Interviewing
If you want to make changes in your life but have a difficult time doing so, motivational interviewing could help. This collaborative counseling method moves you through the emotional stages necessary to find the desire to change, and to commit to that change.
You may want to try this gentle, non-confrontational approach if you want help with:
- Inner conflict
- Procrastination
- Management of physical health conditions
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy™ (Mind-Body Counseling)
A body-based talk therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy uses your body’s innate wisdom to gently help you identify old patterns that no longer serve you, so that you can think and feel more clearly.
Neuroscience research supports the effectiveness of this therapy, especially when used to heal past trauma and relationship issues and their effects on the body (such as an overwhelming sense of anxiety). By using Sensorimotor Psychotherapy to bridge the mind-body dichotomy, you can move out of fight-or-flight mode toward a more proactive way of living.
You may want to try this mindful yet powerful approach if you experience:
- PTSD
- Abuse
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Emotional, relationship, or development issues
Self-Hypnosis
You can learn to use self-hypnosis to make psychological and physiological changes in a relatively short amount of time. As a trained therapist, I will guide you to an inwardly focused state of attention where you can use the power of your mind to make outward changes in your life. We can also use hypnosis to explore issues or motivations that may cause you difficulties in life.
Hypnosis can be a powerful part of self-care and self-direction, but some misconceptions about the practice persist. It’s important to know that while under hypnosis, you do not lose control or become unconscious, and you do not experience amnesia afterward.
You may want to try hypnosis if you experience:
- PTSD
- Phobias
- Anxiety
- Pain
- Problems with self-esteem
Trauma-Informed Stabilization Therapy (TIST)
Per Janina Fisher, PHD, originator of this treatment system: “TIST or Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment was developed to provide a trauma-informed approach to the challenges of treating self-destructive behavior. Based on theoretical principles drawn from the neuroscience research on trauma and structural dissociation theory, TIST offers a treatment approach that integrates mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, ego state techniques, and Internal Family Systems.”
You may want to try TIST if you experience:
- PTSD or CPTSD
- Attachment Issues
- Inner Conflicts
- Dissociation
- Feeling stuck or not always in control of your choices
Not sure which modality is right for you?
I’d be happy to discuss the different services I offer and how they might help you make a conscious shift toward a better life.
Please note:
Certain issues are specialties and are out of my scope of practice. For example, if there is active substance abuse or substance use that would inhibit progress, process addictions (such as gambling or sex), and/or eating disorders, I will refer to you treatment with other providers. Providing services as part of a treatment team may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Pain is an issue that requires coordination of care between your health providers. In order to consider providing pain management services, I would need to have both an initial consultation and on-going consultation with your medical provider(s).
“Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending—to rise strong, recognize our story, and rumble with the truth until we get to a place where we think, Yes. This is what happened. And I will choose how the story ends.”
– Brene’ Brown
Call me to schedule a free 10-minute phone consultation.