Therapy is about becoming fully you, living in freedom, and enjoying all your life has to offer.

It is a powerful agent for positive change, and one that will help bring you closer to where you want to be as you let go of the tethers that may currently bind you. These tethers may have unhealed emotional wounds, painful memories, and traumatic experiences as their source. The source may be distorted thought processes or unhealthy ways of relating to others that were modeled to you, but that you naturally picked up on and imitated.

The beautiful reality about therapy is that it can help you become aware of what you might not have ever realized on your own.

There’s a few components that work together to make therapy a transformative experience: the therapist, the client, and the relationship that develops.

The Therapist

Your therapist needs to be a deep listener—one who can listen to what is being said and also what isn’t being said. A skilled therapist will gather information from what you communicate through words and body language, and then put it together like a puzzle, making connections, and then bringing those ideas to you only when it would serve you. Sometimes you will need to come to certain realizations yourself, but that happens naturally as other puzzle pieces have been, and continue to be, discovered and thought through.

Your therapist needs to have compassion for you, not sympathy. There is no pity involved in therapy, as it recognizes the struggles human beings face as opportunities for healing, growth, and learning. Compassion is a coming alongside you, feeling with you, supporting you. The most insightful therapists are doing their own inner work. Therefore they know what it is to be a client, not just the facilitator and guide. Because of this experience, therapists who are engaged in their own inner work carry with them a deeply felt empathy and understanding for you.

Your therapist also needs to have adequate training and experience, including an understanding of the importance of boundaries. There are ethical standards that every therapist must uphold. It would be beneficial for the therapist to have an understanding of several different therapeutic modalities, rather than just one, so that you can best be served in the moment, with whatever you are bringing to the table.

The Client

You, the client are the focus of therapy—the most important person in the room. It is your inner world that is explored, and the therapist is a facilitator to the process.

Traits associated with great success in therapy involve a willingness to engage, to be honest with oneself, a desire to learn how to stay with feelings that may come up rather than flee from them or cinch them off from awareness. That said, sometimes things can become extremely potent, and taking care of yourself however you need to is absolutely essential to the long term process of healing and growth.

All of the raw materials for change are inside you. Change does not come from outside of you, but is set in motion by introspection and contemplation. It is said that we run our lives primarily by subconscious programming, which means that we are mostly not aware of what or why we do what we do.

Therapy helps you live from a more conscious perspective, where you can choose what you do and how you do it. Emotional reactions that have historically been the result of subconscious behavior can turn into emotional responses, aided by the wisdom of conscious thought.

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain.” – Carl Jung

The Therapeutic Relationship

The relationship that develops between therapist and client has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the process of therapy. As a therapist joins with the client and walks the landscape of the client’s inner world, trust is developed. With a foundation of trust and compassion, the stage is set for a powerfully transformative experience.

Research has shown that it is not the modality or theory the therapist uses that has the most beneficial outcome, but rather, it is the therapeutic relationship that heals.

Therapist and client develop a bond that is unlike any other relationship one may have. The client is able to focus on him or herself, exploring everything that arises, without the need to care for or reciprocate with the therapist. With the freedom to delve into one’s own psyche, alongside a guide, comes the opportunity to go deeper and expand one’s understanding of themselves.

Weekly or bi-weekly therapy are usually the best options because this relationship needs to have room to develop, and if a client comes only sporadically it can diminish that potential.

Specialties and Services

Therapy can be utilized for major mental health issues or for what may be considered minor by some, such as an issue with procrastination or a desire for a career change. Serving my clients has included exploration, facilitating growth, and sharing knowledge around these topics:

• Relationship struggles
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Late-diagnosed Autistic Adults needing support
• Mood swings
• Complex PTSD
• Insomnia
• Grief and loss
• Boundary issues (difficulty saying no, etc.)
• Codependency
• Divorce recovery
• Considering divorce
• Parenting issues
• Career dissatisfaction
• Procrastination

• Stress
• Adult ADHD related concerns
• Help with open relationship dynamics
• Feeling lost
• Perfectionism
• Religious Trauma Syndrome recovery and healing
• Recovery and healing from spiritual abuse and/or cult involvement
• Self-acceptance and self-compassion
• Growth in Self-Attunement
• Pregnancy and Postpartum issues
• Disordered eating and/or eating disorder recovery
• Body image related issues (looked at from a Health at Every Size framework)

There are often threads that connect a few issues together, and when we address them directly, it helps to unravel the knot. In time, the most challenging of issues can smooth out, freeing you of chronic discomfort and pain you’ve been living with.

“We can’t change anything until we begin to get some fresh ideas, until we begin to see things differently.” – James Hillman