At Connection Centered Counseling, I view the concerns and needs brought to therapy as the result of interacting and moving variables within one’s life.
This differs from a medical model wherein concerns and needs may be seen as stemming from something inherently/biologically present within a person. I also believe that when people have supportive relationships in their lives, when they know how to ask for what they need in healthy ways, when they know how to say no without fearing loss of relationship, and when they are empowered toward the accomplishment of deeply personal goals, many of the concerns and complaints that bring people to therapy resolve.
I work first to cultivate a safe, validating, and supportive relationship with you, my client. Within that relationship, the wholeness of you and your experiences are allowed to exist, to be seen, and to heal.
I work first to cultivate a safe, validating, and supportive relationship with you, my client. Within that relationship, the wholeness of you and your experiences are allowed to exist, to be seen, and to heal.
Too many people avoid therapy because they fear that the therapy will overwhelm them.
They have good reasons for feeling this way. When we talk directly about traumatic events, when we unearth those memories, even if they are not spoken aloud, the brain believes they are happening again (right now). This can, and will, cause symptoms that stem from these experiences to worsen.
Did you know that you do not actually need to talk (much) about a traumatic event to gain relief? Did you know that it is not actually even recommended to go into details, or that it may not actually be helpful to “tell the story?” Did you know that how you talk in therapy is as, or perhaps even more, important as what you talk about?
I have extensive experience treating trauma and teaching other clinicians how to practice trauma informed care to help bring the greatest benefits and relief without causing worsening conditions or symptoms.
Some elements of trauma informed care include:
- Building capacities to contain or calm physical and emotional responses to triggers
- Regulating the nervous system through practical daily habits
- Increasing felt safety inside and away from therapy
- Using physical sensation, and body-based mindfulness to slow and contain responses
- Selecting appropriate targets for trauma resolution and talking about them and recalling them in a very specific manner so that they are no longer disturbing.
If you have been hesitant to address past traumatic experiences in therapy, please set up a free consultation with me to discuss how these approaches might help you.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a heavily researched, trauma informed, evidenced-based approach to healing from trauma.
With EMDR, the client selects “target” memories to reprocess and desensitize in treatment. Trauma memories tend to be stored along networks in the brain, and tend to include highly sensory (intense images, smells, sounds, tactile and even taste-based) memories.
Using bilateral stimulation (BLS) through eye movements, auditory tones, or tapping, we are able to remap memories in the neural network to create more adaptive recall. After completing EMDR, clients report that memories that were initially highly triggering and activating, can now be recalled as a simple event with a few non-intrusive images.
EMDR contains 8 distinct phases. Clients often report that they can work through single event traumas (like a car accident) over the course of a few months (12-16 sessions).
Complex traumas (such as childhood abuse and neglect) may require more lengthy care to achieve best outcomes.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is a skills-based curriculum that focuses on four main skill groups:
Mindfulness:
Paying attention on purpose
Emotion Regulation:
Managing one’s emotions instead of allowing emotions to manage the person
Distress Tolerance:
Strengthening resilience and capacities to cope through challenges
Interpersonal Effectiveness:
Learning how to ask for what we need or say no without losing relationships
While originally developed and researched within populations struggling with Borderline Personality Disorder, DBT skills can help just about anyone feel they have the tools to cope and feel better about their lives.
Coming Spring 2023…
Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) is an evidence based couples therapy model that combines knowledge drawn from neuroscience, attachment theory and the biology of human arousal.
The model may be known to you already if you have read any of the Wired for Love books by Dr. Stan Tatkin.
This model aims to heal relationships by moving couples towards healthy and secure functioning.
No one gets things right all the time. Even your therapist. But, think for a moment about a time when you made a mistake with someone, said or did the wrong thing, and then recovered.
Likely, your relationship was stronger after the mistake. Often, this is how trust forms. In therapy, mistakes or ruptures can look like saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, giving advice instead of staying curious and reflective, seeing something from conflicting perspectives, or having a reaction that later feels regrettable or vulnerable in some way.
When there is a willingness to work through these types of ruptures a powerful therapeutic relationship can form, which facilitates deep healing. The skills built in therapy in this way can transfer to other relationships, bringing confidence, empowerment and trust into more areas of one’s life.
I bring to my work a commitment to healthy rupture and repair. For me, this means being very open to feedback, holding curiosity about my reactions and responses, reflective inquiry with peers and consultants about my growth edges, and knowing how to recognize (and take accountability for) my mistakes in order to ensure that whenever possible, my missteps may lead to improved trust, confidence and safety within your therapy. With this stance, I am also able to create a safe space for clients to take risks, knowing there will be deep respect and acceptance and opportunities to repair and recover at every stage of the process.
