Therapy
Making the decision to give therapy a try can be exciting and scary. There are many unknowns before meeting a therapist. Will my therapist understand me? Will I feel comfortable sharing myself with the therapist? Will I be judged? The first important step in beginning therapy is finding the right fit for you in a therapist. I believe that there is a therapist for every client. It is important that you feel comfortable enough to open up and be authentic with your therapist. That may take more than one or two sessions. The goal is to make sure that there is progress in the therapy and if we don't feel like that is happening, we can discuss an alternative plan.
How I work...
I believe in order to have an effective experience in therapy, a therapist outght to have a variety of techniques and methods of practicing. The methods and ideals used in the therateutic space should be dependent upon the client and the client's individual needs. For example, I find that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can be especially effective with my clients who struggle with anxiety and rumunating worries. One objective of CBT is to identify the patterns of thinking that may be contributing to unnecessary worries and then work with the client to create alternative, more postive thought patterns that then alleviate the anxiety.
I believe that it is important to uncover patterns of thinking and behaving that may have originated in childhood or early adolescence. And while I do explore the past with clients, my goal is to help my client free themselves from their past that may be contributing to negativity in the present time. I believe that understanding why we are the way we are is very important, and it is just as important to learn how to change and adapt our thinking and behaving in a way that leads us to increased self awareness and overall wellness.
What is my specialty?
I enjoy working with individuals, families, and couples. My focus is mostly working with those who are struggling to find their full potential. This could mean that the individual is struggling with interpersonal relationship, whether that be with a spouse, a parent, a child, or a colleague. I will never forget that one of my professors once told me that, "Communication is one of the most difficult human skills. It has been the basis for most all disagreements in society, including war".
It is true that learning to be an effective communicator can be very challenging, and learning to improve this skill may dramatically improve our relationships with others.
I also work with individuals who are struggling with inconsistencies with their moods as well as those who are faced with crippling anxiety and fears. Learning to make behavioral changes to our routines, to our thought processes, and to our environments can be beneficial in improving stability with our mood, as well as increasing our self of inner calm and peace of mind.
