In therapy, decisions to help you get back to enjoying your life are made collaboratively. A good therapeutic connection means that we are both comfortable with our working relationship. We will work together to discover what the roots of the difficulties you experience are. Your goals will inform the direction we will take toward healing and health. Like many helping professionals, I have trained in many post Masters techniques. My approach is informed by the following approaches and often utilizes tools found within these healing schools of practice.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro, EMDR is a highly effective and well-researched treatment. EMDR has been established as a premier treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This short term therapy has been adapted to quickly and effectively serve clients with a wide range of difficulties including: addictions, negative self esteem, sleep disturbances, anxiety, panic disorders, and depression among others. Based on the Adaptive Processing Model, EMDR rapidly unlocks unprocessed memories and feelings about events and allows the mind and body’s natural healing processes to resolve previously blocked material.
• Dreamwork: Working with dreams allows individuals a direct connection with their deeper self--often referred to as the unconscious. Dreams bypass the critical attitudes of the waking mind and communicate important issues that the waking mind may be ignoring. Dreams are fascinating, rich with meaning and salient communications from our deepest self. Their meaning is individual and often shrouded in symbols and metaphor. Taking the time to explore these reservoirs of wealth is always worth the work.
• Positive Psychology & Client Centered: All work with clients is based upon an attitude of respect, unconditional positive regard and a strong co-operative relationship. We will work together to discover the roots of your difficulties and identify both the strengths you hold as well as the areas where new skills can increase your ability to cope and thrive in life.
• Emotion Focussed Therapy: Whether feelings or thoughts come first, both must be addressed in order to heal. In our society people are discouraged from expressing themselves emotionally. People are often dismissed for being "too sensitive" or feeling ‘too much’. Our emotions have information for us about what our core needs are and whether or not these needs are being met. By learning to identify, allow, experience, understand, respect and learn a flexible approach to being emotional beings, we become better equipped to cope with our emotional experience.
• Earth Psychology: Reconnecting to our roots in nature provides a lasting stable base upon which to live holistically. Few connections are more profoundly enriching and life changing than a respectful relationship with the Earth on which we depend and with our fellow inhabitants with whom we share the planet.