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I approach therapy with a simple question:
"What do you want out of life, and what is holding you back from that?"
This question, and your answers, is where we begin the journey. I look forward to hearing from you.
Life is hard. You need someone on your team. A neutral party to let you vent without jumping to conclusions. Someone who can validate the pain you’ve been through and knows how to help you heal. An experienced clinician who can guide you to the answers you need.
You can let go of the baggage you've been carrying around, change the unhelpful patterns you've learned, and envision what a full, abundant life might feel like.
Therapy is a tool to resolve the pain and problems you're facing. But it doesn't stop there. Therapy is also a tool to grow into the person you want to be and to create the life you want for yourself.
Just about everyone has experienced trauma on some level, whether or not you feel that your negative experiences rise to the level of "abuse."
Trauma is how your brain, body, and emotions have reacted to the difficult circumstances you went through. Trauma can be one of the hardest things to process on your own so if you are experiencing any lingering negative effectives of a difficult experience, trauma treatment can help. I recommend this resource to better understand my philosophy of therapy.
There are many different types of abuse. Some of the most common negative experiences that I can help you heal from are:
Trauma
Narcissistic Abuse can be hard to identify. It is hard to pinpoint the narcissist's exact infractions because they are so good at spinning reality. How you feel around a narcissist is the best indicator of the abuse you are experiencing. You need to make sure you have someone on your team who sees through their manipulation and can support you, like a good therapist.
Trauma
Do you feel triggered when certain religious language is used? Do you avoid specific religious places or people? These are signs of a trauma or stress reaction to adverse religious experiences. These experiences may not feel like the rise to the level of abuse, but they have negatively impacted you nonetheless. You can resolve and heal from these experiences.
Trauma
Sexual abuse is not your fault. Ever. Someone else chose to exert power or control over you in a sexual way. Sexual abuse can take many forms: incest, molestation, sexual assault, and sexual harrassment. Sometimes it is obvious that you’ve experienced sexual abuse and sometimes you may feel like your experience isn’t serious enough to be considered abuse. If you were coerced or forced into any type of sexual encounter, it was sexual abuse. If you felt dirty or ashamed, those are signs that you experienced something sexually traumatic.
Trauma
Often connected with emotional abuse, psychological abuse is the regular and deliberate range of words that were used to confuse, manipulate, hurt, weaken or frighten you.
Trauma
Emotional abuse/neglect can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics such as intimidation, manipulation, and refusal to ever be pleased. Emotional Neglect is much less tangible. It is the absence of real emotional connection, closeness, or a sense of belonging.
Whether your parents meant well and tried their hardest or not, you still felt the effects of all the ways that had not yet healed. You may have felt that you were never fully seen, heard, valued, or understood. It's easy to bring those feelings and patterns into the present unless you take time to heal from the past.
You can give yourself permission to be whole, to make sense of it all, and to heal. You can live a healthy, vibrant life that is not defined by the shame or confusion you felt as a child.
It is possible to find healing and I can help.
Childhood
If you've ever wondered why your parents didn't meet your needs even though they were trying their best, this may be your answer.
Trauma
Emotional abuse/neglect can include anything from verbal abuse and constant criticism to more subtle tactics such as intimidation, manipulation, and refusal to ever be pleased. Emotional Neglect is much less tangible. It is the absence of real emotional connection, closeness, or a sense of belonging.
Counseling is more than talking about difficult things in your life. It’s also a process of envisioning and living into what you want and overcoming the obstacles that are holding you back.
I often tell clients, "You don't have to go looking for problems in therapy. You can also work on personal growth."
You may be experiencing a loss of connection to yourself and your intuition. You may be noticing shame or self-criticism frequently making an appearance in your life. You can reconnect with yourself, learn to be curious about your choices instead of judgmental, and increase your confidence. The sky's the limit.
What do you want more of in your life?
Growth
Grow in the belief that you are a good person with worth and value, not defined by your past.
Growth
Confidence is believing in yourself, feeling comfortable in your true-self, knowing you have worth.
Growth
Self-compassion entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or being hard on ourselves with self-criticism.
Growth
You are doing anti-oppressive work. It's hard, and you need a space to decompress, reconnect to hope, and do the inner work to support your outer advocacy.
It is a privilege to walk alongside others in their journey to wholeness and healing. Reach out today to begin the conversation.
