|
I have discovered that I work somewhat differently with different people; this is probably because each client is different and has different problems, strengths, needs and goals, and because, in each case, a unique relationship develops between me and the client. In all cases, I place the utmost importance on deeply understanding the client’s experience and on meeting that person with empathy and respect. I believe that people contain the seeds of their own authenticity and development, and that it is the therapist’s job to help the client remove what blocks his or her natural growth.
When working with individuals, I use Emotion-Focused Therapy, existential therapy, and mindfulness-based therapy, as well as other techniques. I also pay a lot of attention to people’s histories in order to understand how their past development and experiences might be affecting their current capacity to live well in the present and imagine a future.
Finally, I sometimes use Lifespan Integration© therapy to help clients integrate bodily/emotional memories from infancy, childhood and adolescence with their adult capacities for understanding. I find Lifespan Integration to be especially helpful for healing recent trauma gently without re-traumatizing.
In couples counseling, I use Emotionally Focused Therapy to help partners deeply reconnect on the level of needs and feelings (as opposed to having that same unproductive argument over and over again). Once couples have learned to communicate in a way that is likely to get their needs met and have had help in healing breaches of trust, they generally find they can solve other problems without therapeutic help.
Main Counseling Services:
mental health counseling services (sometimes called “therapy” or “psychotherapy”) for individual adults
couples counseling for couples in conflict, couples seeking to address specific relationship problems, and couples wishing to enhance their relationships
grief counseling, trauma counseling, and treatment for people suffering from anxiety or depression, as well as for those working through identity issues, life transitions, or a variety of other problems
counseling for people adjusting to, or coming to terms with, physical disability, sensory disability, chronic illness, life-threatening illness, or terminal illness
counseling for family members of people with disabilities and/or illnesses, such as those needing help with caregiver stress
counseling for crime victims under Washington State’s Crime Victims Compensation Program.
|