Why Counseling?
Taking brave steps towards a healthier, happier you.
It can be hard to admit when it’s time to seek counseling. Our society still has a long way to go in normalizing counseling the way going to the doctor is no big deal. You may still think of counseling as something reserved for ‘other’ people – but truthfully, most of us would benefit from counseling at some point in our lives.
For some, seeking counseling is one of the most courageous steps to take. There’s no questioning that doing so saves lives – both figuratively and quiteliterally.
So much more than "just talking about it"
A counselor is so much more than just someone to talk to (though we definitely do a lot of listening)
We’re trained and prepared to provide a space for you to feel complete acceptance, confidentiality, and deeply heard. Whereas a friend (no matter how caring) often has their own challenges, preconceptions, and biases, we’re trained to be totally present to you and your situation. To put it simply, when you come in for therapy, I leave everything at the door and approach each session with an open mind and ears to hear.
In addition to listening, we know which questions will help you dive deeper, get to know yourself better, and find your own answers. While I may occasionally offer advice, most often a well-designed question will help you become your own advisor – a process once practiced you can take with you throughout your life.
The benefits:
Research-backed counseling has numerous benefits. Through therapy, you can uncover:
- Greater personal empowerment
- A stronger sense of hope for the future
- Bravery in the face of social stigmas
- Radical acceptance of life
- Deep personal insight
- Enhanced life, social, and communication skills
- Improved health and wellbeing from a holistic perspective
- Prevention and management of chronic mental health distress
Therapy tools I use most:
Unconditional Positive Regard
All of us desire to be seen and accepted unconditionally. Many of us do not receive this kind of support in our daily lives - family and friend's affection may be conditional or come with it the threat of judgement. As a therapist who employs unconditional positive regard, judgement is not something I allow in my sessions.
I adopt an attitude of grace and appreciation through whatever may seem to you like failure or 'wrongness'.
While this doesn't mean all behaviors are "ok", it does mean that your thoughts and feelings are valid, a normal part of being human, and that we don't need to judge them to begin to bring about the change you want to see in yourself.
Positive regard has been proven to increase self-acceptance, confidence, and motivation towards reaching one's potential.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Commonly refered to as "DBT", Dialectical Behavior Therapy gets it's name from it's approach in looking at how our inner dialogue effects out behavior, and how changing that dialogue can promote benefits we wish to see. By inner dialogue, we mean those thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions that make life harder (ie "I have to be perfect all the time." which may cause you to overwork yourself or sink into depression)
We utilize supportive collaboration and employ various tools to assist you in rewriting this dialogue (ie "I am worthy without needing to be perfect")
There are four categories of tools we can draw from that fall under DBT:
- Mindfulness (Observe, Describe, and Participate).
- Interpersonal Effectiveness (How you interact with the people around you)
- Distress Tolerance (Accepting, finding meaning for, and tolerating distress)
- Emotion Regulation (Through identifying, analyzing, and allowing emotions to simply be)
Brief Solution-Focused Therapy
If you're goal is to spend a lifetime on your therapist's couch, I'm probably not the right counselor for you. While I'm committed to go the distance with you, our time together will be marked by goal setting and working to achieve those goals. We'll spend more time in the present, learning how we can craft a better life for you, then sitting back and diving into the past.
We'll decide together what steps will get you from where you are, to where you want to be, and I'll walk them with you. This is important as we affirm that your mood, and your diagnosis, are not who you are - just a wave to be surfed.
