My Style
My counseling style is one of compassion, empathy, and validation with focus on building trust and a strong therapeutic relationship. I operate from a trauma focused mindset, taking mental consideration of your past experiences that may be contributing to how you are feeling today. I am trained in several evidenced-based practices listed below, however above all else I believe in an eclectic and adaptive therapeutic process and may pull skills and concepts from a wide variety of treatment styles. I also believe in the importance of including God in all I do, and would love to include prayer and scripture in our treatment, but ONLY if you are comfortable with this. If you aren’t into that, that’s totally okay too. Of the modalities listed below, I will often be utilizing EMDR, CBT, and DBT. If you are interested in a deeper dive into Christian counseling, we can discuss this to determine if it is a good fit.
EMDR is a life changing therapeutic treatment and my preferred approach to healing. We will spend a solid amount of time building our relationship, exploring your history, and assuring you are able to substantially cope with whatever lingering symptoms may arise. EMDR taps into the brains built in healing mechanisms and gives them a jumpstart to reprocess past hurts. This treatment allows you to be in full control and requires minimal in depth dialogue about past traumas. If we proceed with this treatment, we will identify a target memory(s) and utilize eye movements (bilateral stimulation) or other forms of stimulation while holding the experience in mind and allowing your brain to take us where it needs to go. For more info on EMDR, check out the link provided or do some research on your own.
Cognitive and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (CBT/DBT)
I have training and experience utilizing CBT and DBT to help build skills aimed at reframing your thoughts as well as coping with distress, emotions, improving relationships, and practicing mindfulness. While these modalities may be used as a stand alone treatment, they are often used together as well as supplemental to EMDR, to help build coping skills prior to engaging in trauma processing. If you are interested in a primarily "talk therapy" relationship, we will discuss the possibility of considering a CBT or DBT approach.
For more information on these approaches, please see the following links.
https://behavioraltech.org/resources/faqs/dialectical-behavior-therapy-dbt/.
Christian Spirituality
I would be honored to include your Christian walk in our counseling process. There are many ways we can do this, from simply including prayer to exploration of ongoing struggles that might be incongruent with your beliefs. Sometimes, when we are knowingly or unknowingly living in a way that contradicts what we believe, symptoms such as anxiety, depression, nightmares, etc. may arise. We can include these struggles in our processing or talk therapy work and identify areas where change may be needed.