Sadness, anxiety and anger are all examples of normal emotions that are part of the human experience, just as feeling happy or calm are. We can run into trouble when the balance between our emotions is lost. At times, difficult emotions can feel so intense that they begin to interfere with daily life. Going to work, taking care of children, getting together with friends, engaging in hobbies… normal everyday tasks seem to take more energy and motivation than you feel you can give. Things that used to feel normal can suddenly feel overwhelming. For some, these difficult emotions may have impacted life for as long as you can remember.
What is therapy?
Therapy is a collaborative healing process, wherein we work together to help decrease your emotional discomfort and increase the quality of your life. I will help you explore, gain insight and find healthy ways to cope with stressors in your life. I believe that progress and healing come from within you and I am here to help guide the way. The first few sessions will involve gathering information on your current struggles, your history and what your hopes are for therapy. We will then, together, develop a treatment plan that will help to identify goals for therapy as well as how we will work toward helping you accomplish them. Sometimes people have trouble identifying what their goals are and that is okay, too. I am here to collaborate with you and help you gain that clarity.
What will therapy look like?
I believe that every person’s needs are unique. The idea of “one size fits all” does not apply to therapy. Our work will be tailored to the issues that you are struggling with as well as your preferences for treatment. I am trained and often use approaches based in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Internal Family Systems (IFS). It is normal to meet weekly in the beginning of your treatment and then begin to reduce how often we meet once your healing journey is on its way. It is important to know that while therapy is a wonderful tool to improve emotional health, it can also be challenging at times. My goal is to always promote a sense of emotional safety in our work together.
When will I feel better?
The simple answer is that my goal is to help you begin to feel relief very soon. There is no “cookie-cutter” answer to this because we are all unique individuals with different needs. Your participation in working on issues, both in and outside of session, will play a considerable role in how quickly you begin to feel better. I have also found that people often benefit from gathering their thoughts ahead of each session, planning and prioritizing what they would like to work on.