Individual therapy for children, adolescents, and adults
There are a lot of misconceptions about therapy in our culture. For this reason, many people are uncertain about what to expect upon entering the therapeutic relationship. At an initial session, I will ask questions, with the intention of getting a holistic picture of who you are and what in your life has helped mold you into this person. These will include questions about what is going on in your life currently, the important people in your life, including family, any struggles you may be experiencing, what you hope to accomplish through therapy, and anything else you believe is relevant and important. During your initial session, I will also talk to you about who I am and what I can offer so you can make an informed decision about whether you believe I can meet your needs. I am aware that I am not the right therapist for everybody and part of my job is to help people find the circumstance that is going to be most effective for them.
There are 4 traits that are at the core of who I am as a therapist:
- The first of these is compassionate, radical acceptance. This does not mean that I endorse all behaviors. It means that regardless of your behaviors, I will still see your inherent worth and value as a human being and I will work to connect with the part of you that wants things to be better. I will also help you see how even the most problematic of behaviors has its origin in your attempt to function within your life.
- The second of these is honesty. Because of the dynamic that compassionate radical acceptance creates, I am in a position to offer honesty that could normally be difficult. We can only create a better life for ourselves when we look at our current life with as much honesty as we can muster. Most people have never had the experience of complete compassionate honesty before and find it liberating and empowering.
- The third of these is depth. This means that I will always be looking for the roots of the problems you are experiencing and addressing those. While I will always start where people are in thinking about their problems, I will always be looking for and pushing you toward the very beginning of the issue, so it can be thoroughly addressed. When you are depth therapist, you start to see that almost all problems relate back to a fundamental issue, safety and self-worth being the most common. If you eliminate a problem without addressing the fundamental issue underneath it, that fundamental issues will continue to wreak havoc with your life in different ways.
- The fourth is a process-orientation. This means I always start where you are and I will follow you as you pursue whatever is a priority to you. I do this for three reasons. The first is that I understand that whatever is most important to you on any given day is what is most important. For me to insist otherwise is arrogant and disrespectful, two things I strive to never be. Secondly, all roads lead to the same destination (the fundamental issues), so any road we take will lead us to the right place. Finally, it is just how I am wired. If I tried to structure my therapeutic sessions, I would not be an effective therapist. So, while many of the techniques I use are very structured, our path to getting to them is not.
For more specific techniques please visit the following pages on my website:
