About Therapy

The worst part of having bad things happen in your life is it’s always there.

Almost like a silent partner that hijacks your thoughts and actions. There’s always a boogie man around the corner.

No one can be trusted, because everyone has hidden or bad intentions.

“How do I relate to other people when I don’t know who I am?”

There are two different people at work.

The you other people see, admire, and look up to.

And there’s the you locked away. The one who tells you it’s your fault. Or you can trust no one. Or even worse you’re unlovable… gross… bad.

Who do you want to be? The you of today and tomorrow or the person with one foot cemented in the past? Figuring out where to start and where to go from here is where I come in.

“Tell me how you feel” is as ineffective as a dry wet nap…

…when there are a host of emotions that have taken residence in your body like a squatter in an abandoned building.

Emotionally vomiting the week’s events in a 60-minute session only provides temporary relief.

Using three degrees in Business, HR, and Counseling… and combinations of talk therapy with researched trauma treatments like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Internal Family Systems, and Trauma Informed Yoga, we can dig in and do the work.

Therapy is not one-size-fits-all.

We will match your goals and personality to the method(s) that work.

Patience will be your friend, as well as an open mind. The first few sessions are like an extended getting to know you period. Learning about your likes and dislikes and, most importantly, your goals.

Then we dive in and work on ways to soothe the savage trauma-induced beast. Without that, nothing will work.

There will be homework.

Let me say that again: There will be homework. Do it!

You won’t be in therapy forever. One of my goals is for you to be a functioning person outside the therapy office.

Homework helps you turn information into revelation about yourself and your life, then and now.

We will create a space that is void of judgment…

…safe and hopefully decorated (don’t judge me if it takes a while to make the room pretty).

We will work not only on your mental health, but your physical health as well. That tightness across your shoulders, the pain in your stomach – even that headache is connected to your mental health.

You will leave sessions with a plan to slowly work on bringing you from the trap the past has set for you and walking into your present.

Getting beyond short-term solutions…

When we work together, we will look for long-term solutions to deal with the uninvited guest of bad feelings.

Long-term solutions are ones you can use and modify outside of therapy.

You may become an avid yogi. Or a workout guru. Or be able to talk to and appreciate those parts of you that will protect you and keep you from real danger. You will learn how to do this on your own.

If you need a tune-up, that’s cool.

C’mon back. Don’t forget, you’re not in this alone. I’m here with you.

We will work on how you can recognize when anger, guilt, and fear are on their way to your house. The situations that bring them running to you.

Then you’ll learn how to fight against the past and the doubt that you can be free. Free from the labels you, and others, have put on you. Free from being ruled by emotions. Free from being a slave to the past.

This will not be an experience of talking about your trauma in explicit detail in 50 minutes on day one. Then sending you home upset and ripe for nightmares, flashbacks, and irritability. Repeat for several weeks, throw in some breathing exercises, and then you’re “cured” (because there are hundreds of other people waiting to make an appointment).

In therapy, you’re in the driver’s seat.

Guess what? You don’t have to talk about the trauma in detail. Only if it helps you and only when you’re ready.

You are driving this bus, and I’m the passenger with my own set of brakes. I’ll jump in when I have to, but you’re in charge. This is about you.

Let’s laugh, cry, and grow together.

Therapy does not have to super serious all… the… time. Whatever it takes, as long as it’s legal, to move you into who you want to be… we will do it.

Trauma doesn’t just affect your mind; it affects every area of your life.

So… let’s make a change. Let’s work together to get you where you want to be. Contact me today for a free consultation: (317) 395-3716