Each client has an unique way of approaching therapy. How we work together depends largely on what you want to accomplish and how you prefer to work. As we work together, here are some of the modalities I draw from in order to support you on your individual journey:

Person-Centered Therapy

The great humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers showed that for psychotherapy to be effective, it is essential the therapist relate to each client with “unconditional positive regard.” This is the cornerstone of my approach and conceptualizes how I work as a therapist. Person-centered therapy empowers the client to take ownership of their mental wellbeing. It provides a safe space for clients to become more self-aware and find their own solutions. There are a few core conditions needed for Person-Centered Therapy that work well in creating desired change.

First, the therapist strives to authentically and genuinely be themselves in therapy, as a real person. This is possible because the therapist has done their own inner work. Showing up as a sincere human being means the therapist avoids playing the role of expert and does not follow a script. Rather, the intention is to bring an honest, yet neutral, presence to the encounter.

Second, the therapist holds deep respect and acceptance of the client. The therapist recognizes the client’s desire for change while accepting the current experience of the client as their truth.

In addition, a key component of Person-Centered Therapy includes empathy—leaning into the current experience of the client. Bringing clarity and deepening of the feeling as a way to increase awareness. With empathy the client’s experience is held without an agenda, expectation of a specific outcome, or needing to create change at that moment.

Positive Psychotherapy

Positive Psychotherapy is a relatively new addition to the field of mental health. The goal of positive psychology is to expand those traditional forms of therapy that center on negative experiences to include more balance and a strength-based focus to the therapeutic process. The idea is not focused solely on fixing what is bad in life, but focusing on what is good — the positives.

Positive psychology emphasizes traits, thought patterns, behaviors, and experiences that are forward-looking and can help improve the quality of a person’s day-to-day life. These may include optimism, spirituality,hopefulness, gratitude, happiness, creativity, perseverance, justice, meaning and purpose, as well as the practice of free will. It is an exploration of one’s strengths rather than one’s weaknesses and is a powerful addition to other therapeutic practices.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured, goal-oriented form of therapy that is used to treat or manage issues of mental and emotional wellbeing.

CBT helps clients take a close look at their thoughts and emotions. They come to understand how their thoughts affect their own actions. Through CBT, one can unlearn negative thoughts and behaviors and learn to adopt healthier thinking patterns and habits.

CBT usually takes place over a limited number of sessions, with regular assignments each week. Using a Q&A format, your therapist helps you gain a different perspective. As a result, you learn to respond better to stress, pain and difficult situations. CBT can be combined with other therapies or medications.

Somatic Experiencing Psychotherapy

“The body has its own language that is older and more primal than we realize.  Our job is to learn how to listen, to tune-in and develop a trusting relationship with our bodies.”

Although treating the mind-body connection is a relatively new concept in Western medicine, this concept has long been recognized in Eastern medicine and philosophies. In regular psychotherapy, the practitioner engages only the mind, but in somatic therapy the body is the foundational point for healing.

Initially, somatic therapies were developed to help trauma survivors experience relief from their symptoms.  However, over the past couple decades, somatic therapies has been shown effective in helping people struggling with many life stressors.  Somatic experiencing therapy aims to treat the effects of trauma and  PTSD, as well as other mental and emotional health issues through the connection of mind and body. This body-centric approach works by helping to release stress, tension, and trauma from the body. Somatic therapy incorporates body-oriented modalities such as movement, breathwork, and meditation to support mental healing.

Somatic experiencing therapy is designed to help individuals heal at a cellular level. After a traumatic event, the nervous system can get stuck in survival mode. Stress hormones, such as cortisol, are continually released, leading to an increase in blood sugar and blood pressure, which can weaken the immune system. Negative childhood experiences can produce deeply rooted beliefs that our conscious minds can’t access by talking alone.

Emotional Freedom Technique

Emotional Freedom Technique was created in the 1990s by Gary Craig. Like acupuncture and acupressure, it utilizes points along the body’s energy meridians—the “highways” or channels through which the body’s energy flows, according to Chinese medicine. For that reason, EFT tapping is sometimes called “psychological acupressure.”

According to the theory behind EFT, activating these meridian points by tapping them with the fingertips helps restore the balance of energy in the body. In this way, the tapping technique can alleviate both emotional and physical issues. The EFT methodology also draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and exposure therapy, by pairing the tapping with focused thoughts about a specific issue or traumatic experience.