Good therapy always helps the client to feel what they feel and know what they know.
Individual counseling has the potential to be a transformational and impactful experience throughout the lifespan. Regardless of whether you are reaching out to increase self-awareness or are navigating a crisis, therapy can move you forward. The combination of allowing another person to witness your struggles, along with the ability to witness them yourself, has the power to normalize and contextualize what may have previously felt charged with overwhelm. Good therapy always helps the client to feel what they feel and know what they know. The core of my therapeutic stance is non-pathologizing and that symptoms are always a reaction to environments and traumas we have experienced and stored in our bodies. I also acknowledge that some mental health conditions require specific kinds of support, expertise, and continuing care. I profoundly believe that clients are the ultimate experts in their own life, and it is my job to create a container and a process that will help clients reconnect to themselves. Universally, I aim to increase hope for the future, foster forward motion, help clients move into action around their goals, and create a life that feels worth living. Over the thousands of hours listening to clients I have discovered that most human pain is quite similar at its core. It asks, “am I enough”, “will I be loved if they knew”, “am I broken somehow”, “if I stop doing X will I still be accepted.” The more I practice, the more I see the oneness in all of us, despite whatever set of issues and symptoms are being presented. I aim to provide a gentle yet dynamic experience for clients that makes them feel more at ease with the human experience.