"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."
-Pablo Picasso
-Pablo Picasso
My Thoughts as a Therapist
First of all, I work for you. I am a hired consultant with specialized skills and expertise in certain areas with one goal...to make your life better. Often, however, getting to better takes some doing from both of us. This partnership, which is called the therapeutic relationship, is at the core of good psychotherapy. As such, I do not judge clients and do not look at things in terms of good or bad, right or wrong, should or shouldn't. Instead, I consider things in context of either constructive or destructive in moving towards the goal of making your life better in the ways you are seeking. I will encourage you to do the same.
Second, psychotherapy is a well thought out treatment process that employs specific strategies for certain reasons, and things should make sense to you. As I tell my clients, "I'm in the business of putting myself out of business." What I mean by this, clients' lives should get better and my services should eventually no longer be needed. Of course, everyone's needs and wants are different, and a number of factors contribute to how long it will take to meet one's goals. Sometimes just a few sessions is all it takes, other times it is a longer journey. But, I want to emphasize the process nature of therapy.
It starts with understanding what is going on, for both me and you. This is accomplished through assessment and evaluation, and usually some initial education/teaching. Once I understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together, or at least begin to develop a somewhat comprehensive picture of what is going on, I try to help you see what I see so things begin to make sense in new ways. I look at the interrelatedness of physiology and the laws of the human nervous system; psychology, including thoughts, emotions and behaviors; relationships, both past and present; and, belief systems, both recognized and deliberate, and those hidden beneath our awareness for any number of reasons. Once you have the why the what to do becomes much more attainable.
Then, if not simultaneously with the teaching, strategies are usually used to reduce the distress one is experiencing and to learn how to better navigate problem areas in one's life, both internally and outwardly. This is most often in the form of skill building and can encompass many different strategies, techniques, and practices mentally, behaviorally, and interpersonally. This not only gives relief, but it also creates change, often permanent, on many levels, at least as long as we continue to practice the strategies and techniques until they become patterned habits. For some, this process comes easier than for others...and for valid reasons.
At times there are blocks in the nervous system that prevent this process from occurring without more specialized treatment methods. Such is often the case with trauma and attachment issues. It is not that treatment is more difficult, but that working within the framework of how the nervous system operates in real time is needed to overcome such blocks in order to find resolution. This requires understanding and know-how that only comes with training and experience. A little bit of ingenuity and intuition doesn't hurt either!
Second, psychotherapy is a well thought out treatment process that employs specific strategies for certain reasons, and things should make sense to you. As I tell my clients, "I'm in the business of putting myself out of business." What I mean by this, clients' lives should get better and my services should eventually no longer be needed. Of course, everyone's needs and wants are different, and a number of factors contribute to how long it will take to meet one's goals. Sometimes just a few sessions is all it takes, other times it is a longer journey. But, I want to emphasize the process nature of therapy.
It starts with understanding what is going on, for both me and you. This is accomplished through assessment and evaluation, and usually some initial education/teaching. Once I understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together, or at least begin to develop a somewhat comprehensive picture of what is going on, I try to help you see what I see so things begin to make sense in new ways. I look at the interrelatedness of physiology and the laws of the human nervous system; psychology, including thoughts, emotions and behaviors; relationships, both past and present; and, belief systems, both recognized and deliberate, and those hidden beneath our awareness for any number of reasons. Once you have the why the what to do becomes much more attainable.
Then, if not simultaneously with the teaching, strategies are usually used to reduce the distress one is experiencing and to learn how to better navigate problem areas in one's life, both internally and outwardly. This is most often in the form of skill building and can encompass many different strategies, techniques, and practices mentally, behaviorally, and interpersonally. This not only gives relief, but it also creates change, often permanent, on many levels, at least as long as we continue to practice the strategies and techniques until they become patterned habits. For some, this process comes easier than for others...and for valid reasons.
At times there are blocks in the nervous system that prevent this process from occurring without more specialized treatment methods. Such is often the case with trauma and attachment issues. It is not that treatment is more difficult, but that working within the framework of how the nervous system operates in real time is needed to overcome such blocks in order to find resolution. This requires understanding and know-how that only comes with training and experience. A little bit of ingenuity and intuition doesn't hurt either!
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