How I Approach Therapy

I work to provide my clients a space where they can ask  and explore the “big” questions of their lives - “Who am I?”, “How do I move through a world where I am oppressed, feel out of place and alone?”, “What or who do I feel responsible for and free to do or be?”, “How do my beliefs about death impact how I live?”. I help my clients explore these questions alongside their values with the aim of bringing greater congruence among their values, beliefs, and actions so that they may lead a more meaningful and fulfilling life. 

 

I believe that actively and sincerely taking up these questions is, at base, a spiritual practice and lifelong endeavor because their answers must be embodied and enacted in order to make meaningful change in one’s life. My current personal understanding of and attempts to embody these questions draws heavily from Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies and wisdom traditions. These emphasize the interconnectedness of all things while contrasting this truth to our unshakable sense of being separate and the inevitable pain associated with this sense. I believe compassionate understanding of my/one’s/our suffering to be the vehicle of transforming feelings of isolation to connection and strive to bring this disposition into my interactions with all beings and especially my clients.

 

In the therapeutic relationship, I seek to embody compassionate understanding as I get to know you as a unique, individual human whose experiences, whatever they may be, are real and valid. As our relationship develops and I learn more about your values and experiences, I’ll begin encouraging and challenging you to explore ways that living (in)congruently with your values impacts your thoughts, emotions, and behavior (introspection). You’ll also learn and be encouraged to practice mindfulness techniques including breathing exercises/body scans (interoception) , and loving-kindness meditations. 

 

You’ll rely on these and similar approaches to introspection and interoception during Internal Family Systems work, an approach which seeks to develop insight into and compassion for all parts of your Self which may range from fearful/hurt child parts to protectors that use negative self-talk or substances in an effort to suppress difficult and challenging emotions. In instances where past or future experiences are particularly intense and overwhelming, we may use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing to help you move through the associated emotions and sensations to reduce their intensity as well as move towards healthier and more realistic beliefs about them. 

 

Throughout our work together, it is my goal to support you as you work towards making more conscious, intentional, and deliberate choices that are aligned with and embody a deepening personal understanding of who and how you are in the world.