As we work together to meet your goals, I use a variety of evidence-based counseling methods to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, depression, or trauma that are showing up in your daily life.
Areas of practice
Trauma Recovery and EMDR
As we walk through your story, sometimes it will become evident that there are places where your brain is stuck and causing you distress. In conjunction with traditional therapy, EMDR can be used to rewrite negative neural networks in the brain by processing memories and how they are stored. As your brain changes, you can think and feel differently about yourself and your circumstances. Triggering sensations and emotions can be reduced so they no longer hijack your daily life. Your ability to regulate your emotions and tolerate distressing sensations and feelings can be improved as well. In my experience, EMDR can also be effective with chronic pain and autoimmune dysfunction when related to past traumatic experiences.
“Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders.”
https://www.emdria.org
Anxiety and Depression
Anxiety and depression are highly treatable as they sometimes stem or are increased by core beliefs that are formed from our early experiences in life. Healing from core beliefs you may have about yourself or life can greatly change the way you perceive yourself, others, and your circumstances. It can allow you to experience more freedom to enjoy who you are and your relationships with others. In addition, anxiety and depression can also be biological in nature and there are also many coping skills which can be learned to lessen the distressing symptoms you may currently experience in your daily life.
Relationship Help
Relationships are hard. Our own experiences and family history can contribute to relating in predictable ways that can sometimes lead to stress and negative cycles with those we love most. From communication breakdowns to devastating ruptures that may be occurring in your relationship and friendships, there is hope for healing! As we explore your history and adaptations you had to learn to survive and cope, you can learn new ways of healthy communicating, interacting through conflict, and connecting safely and with boundaries to others that can lead to positive growth and increased satisfaction with yourself and your relationship.
Wellness and self-care
Caring for yourself in this busy world can be difficult. Self-care incorporates your emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual health, and may even involve learning to set healthy boundaries in relationships. You can learn to view yourself as worth taking care of, and give yourself the compassion you would naturally give to others in the same circumstances, which can improve your physical and mental health.
Grief
Grieving can leave you feeling lost, alone, and overwhelmed. When you experience loss, it can be helpful to have a safe space to process these emotions. Working through grief and mourning can help to get you to the place where you can live with your loss in a healthy way.
Nightmares and Interrupted Sleep
Nightmares are our brain’s way of saying, “I’m stuck!” Nightmares or recurring dreams can happen as a result of the fragmented ways that our brains store traumatic information (whether as a result of a big trauma or a past incident where we have internalized a negative belief or fear) and can also be a symptom of anxiety or PTSD. When we are not sleeping well, our brains and bodies have extra difficulty dealing with the daily stresses we experience and our ability to heal from past experiences is limited. When treating nightmares in my office, the nightmares usually resolve quickly and more restful sleep is able to take place. This also decreases anxiety and depression which are heightened with poor quality sleep.
Emotional and psychological trauma can occur in various ways. We can experience a one-time event such as an accident, injury, or a violent attack. Chronic trauma can occur when we live in ongoing life-threatening or dangerous circumstances including domestic violence, sexual abuse, bullying, childhood neglect and abandonment, or chronic illness. Developmental trauma can happen in these circumstances when it was present during the foundational years of brain development from ages 0 to 3 in the context of close care-giving relationships. People who have lived under such trauma can have difficulty with emotional regulation and in relationships with other people, and struggle with chronic anxiety and depression.
When childhood trauma is not resolved, the consequences can carry over into adulthood, making you vulnerable to experience more trauma. It is never too late to begin to take steps to decrease these effects, learn to trust and connect to others again, and develop healthy coping skills needed for when life becomes stressful.