Sometimes grief and pain builds up. The parts of yourself you feel you must hide to get through the day grow increasingly large. Therapy involves giving names to those lost and hurt places. This can include grieving--not only when loved ones were lost, but when things you longed for did not come to pass, betrayals happened, or important needs went unmet.
Identifying thoughts that keep you stuck can also be a part of therapy. Self-abusive thoughts are often remnants of ways we survived past difficult situations. Eventually they hamper our ability to grow. By challenging self-hating thoughts, we can chip away at the slow, subtle pain we cause ourselves without realizing.
Through the therapeutic process, clients feel increasingly empowered to face challenges and make decisions that align with deeper wishes. Sometimes clients feel a wonderful new expansion of energy. Others experience a gradual strengthening, as experiences of pain and emptiness become less overwhelming.
My approach often draws on creativity, intuition, and experiential psychological wisdom. Coping and mindfulness strategies to help during stressful times are often incorporated. I tend to draw from psychodynamic, trauma-informed, and humanistic theories.
I have worked successfully with clients who have a wide range of concerns, including:
healing from a painful breakup
coping with postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety
self-care and confidence building for introverts, shy people, and the highly sensitive
recovering from abuse and trauma
understanding dysfunctional family dynamics
reducing stress and overwhelm
expressing anger in healthy ways
coping with self-doubt and perfectionism
grief and loss
support for those who have loved ones with severe mental illness
helping writers, artists, and out of the box thinkers stay true to the muse