MY APPROACH
EMDR Therapy
A structured way to process painful experiences based on neuroscience
EMDR therapy is a highly effective approach which helps our brains to process unresolved memories while keeping our nervous systems regulated.
Maybe you’re finding yourself unable to move through a loss despite your best efforts.
Maybe you went through something frightening and if you begin to think about it your body feels that fear all over again.
Maybe the overwhelm you’ve been experiencing makes it feel like everything is out of your control and you’re not sure where to begin.
Sometimes when these things happen it’s because our brain hasn’t been able to “file” the experience into our mental “past, resolved” folder, and so when the feelings come up it’s as if that loss, fear, or overwhelm is happening in the present moment. EMDR therapy uses what is called Dual Attention Stimulus (such as eye movement, or tapping) to help our brains identify that, although we are thinking about the past experience, it is not actually happening right now. This helps our bodies to stay calm enough to process the experience and move it from present to past in our minds.
If you want to know more about EMDR therapy, the science behind it, and what EMDR therapy looks like, check out this video: What is EMDR Therapy Video
Attachment Theory
A theory about how we experience relationships
You may have heard of attachment styles, or even read one of the popular books on attachment like “Attached”. Understanding how our earliest relationships impact our experiences of love and safety often helps us to understand ourselves better. With this knowledge we are more likely to be present and secure in our adult relationships, and to be able to make changes to get our relational needs met.
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
A relational approach to exploring unconscious beliefs
Have you ever seen a comic of Freud sitting behind a patient? Notes in hand, distant gaze in his eyes, thought bubble above his head saying something like “and how does that make you feel?” While I will inevitably ask that same question, I will be more of a partner in your healing than an observer. Psychodynamic theory believes that what a therapist is feeling in response to a client may be helpful in understanding more of the client’s experience, and so therapist’s thoughts and feelings can become a part of the therapy. You might notice more of a dialogue between us, and I might share my response to something you’ve said as a way to gain further insight. This does not mean that we will be talking all about my feelings.
Here’s an example of how this might work. You share a painful experience with me and I notice tears in my eyes; you are not crying and your face is still. I might ask you to consider whether this has happened before, when you’ve shared a painful experience with a trusted person in your life. We can then explore what it is like to see another person begin to cry because of something you went through.
Another important part of this approach is the idea that our unconscious beliefs influence how we experience our world, often defining for us how we feel safe and loved. But because these beliefs are unconscious that influence is harder to change. So in psychodynamic therapy we work to learn more about what we call our inner world, how it feels inside our minds, so that we can become aware of these beliefs and figure out whether they are true to us now.
Anti-Oppression Lens
Considering impacts of systemic inequity
Systemic injustice has an incredible impact on our sense of self. It is important for us to consider how race, class, gender and sexuality are shaping our experiences within the world. Without recognizing our proximity to power and privilege we can create unconscious beliefs about who we are and where we belong. In therapy we have an opportunity to talk openly about how our identities lead to experiences of being othered as well as feelings of belonging. We must also acknowledge that sometimes the symptoms we are experiencing (such as stress and anxiety) are simply a direct result of living in an unjust world. We can build skills for coping and connecting but we must also take action to address the systems creating this environment.
Training
EMDR Basic Training
Certificate in Traumatic Stress Studies
I am a member of EMDRIA (EMDR International Association) and the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study.