What is Individual Therapy?
Here’s my hunch about why you’re here.
You want to feel heard and understood without judgement, but that’s not all. There’s a need to actually change old patterns of behavior and relationships in your life - to make new choices. You have a desire to get to the root of your issues, and you know it’s going to take some time - but you’re worth getting to know - therapy is an investment worth the time, energy, and effort.
But how do you know if a certain approach will work for you?
First of all, you won’t be going to therapy - you’re going to be seeing a therapist. Therapy is a human relationship. Your relationship with your therapist is the most important indicator of whether your time in therapy is going to be worthwhile. This is a really personal thing. You can trust your hunches and your gut on this. If you can see yourself building a relationship of trust with your therapist, they’re likely going to be a good fit for you.
Now, let’s talk about how therapy works. There are so many different approaches to therapy. Researchers have proposed a single paradigm of change that unites most approaches to therapy using concepts from neuroscience, and it’s all about new emotional experiences.
Here’s the theory: old ways of experiencing ourselves and others are reexperienced in therapy, but in healthier, more adaptive ways. This process reconsolidates old emotional experiences into new ways of being and relating. Through therapy we experientially learn new ways to stay with uncomfortable emotions in our body, reframe unhelpful thoughts, and have healthier relationships.
In my approach I weave together the classic theories of psychology (psychodynamic and humanistic) using a framework of trauma-informed and body-based (often called somatic) modalities.
Here’s what this means:
I believe that your past is alive in the present and influences you in ways that can be out of your awareness. Making these patterns conscious is crucial to healing.
You have an innate tendency toward growth and healing. You can trust yourself, and I trust that where you want to focus in therapy is where we ought to focus.
Unresolved trauma - big “T” or small “t” - will wreak havoc on your nervous system, ability to regulate emotionally, and engage in healing relationships. Grounding and befriending your nervous system is key to working through trauma.
Your body keeps the score. Talk therapy works - it’s important. But oftentimes we need to connect more deeply with ourselves, develop internal trust/integration, and then work on our patterns of thinking.
Here’s my view of mental well-being in a single phrase: The ability to feel our feelings fully and use them to engage with ourselves and others as we build a life of meaning and purpose.
If this approach resonates with you, let’s connect.
References
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2019/11/ce-corner-relationships
