What’s Your Approach to Counseling?

I work with people from a standpoint of mutual respect.

Obviously, we’re all human. And, the things we go through can impact everything from how we feel in our own skin, to our careers, relationships, and whether or not we believe we can achieve our dreams and goals.

Counseling can feel like a pretty big can of worms to open. But you bring strengths to the table, and you know your life. I bring years of training and experience. So whether you’re here as an individual or part of a couple, together we’ll collaborate on an effective counseling plan tailored for you.

I am absolutely passionate about empowering people to make peace with their past and learn to live with freedom. It’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to do it alone or to get in our own way. I help people heal and figure out who they are so they can discover their purpose and dare to get on with their dreams. This goes for married couples, too.

What are Your Methods of Counseling?

I’m big on using a combination of old fashioned empathy, supportive conversations, and evidence-based practices.

In my own past counseling process, I wanted a counselor who was super easy to talk to, and who also really knew what she was doing. I think most people are looking for the same combination, and using proven methods helps create results and confidence in the process.

The research-based methods I use draw from the studies of neurobiology and the nervous system, human development, and attachment theory (the science of how people bond and relate) to understand common patterns (you’ll find you’re not alone). The blend may include:

• Emotional regulation techniques drawing on research-based methods;
• Communication tools that are clear and doable;
• Trauma methods that emphasize safety and gentleness;
• Creative exercises that clients say produce fresh insights and keep things new.

We may address how to deal with anxiety, relationship styles, or a big-picture perspective (meaning, life goals, purpose, vision). For those who wish, most will find these counseling approaches to be compatible with a faith-based perspective.

We might draw from:

• Internal Family Systems: Discovering and resolving internal conflicts and coping mechanisms that get in the way of who you want to be now.
• Lifespan Integration Therapy: A gentle way to help your mind get past traumatic things.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Catching and changing automatic thoughts that don’t help you.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Getting a handle on emotions and moods.
• Somatic Approaches to Stress: Understanding and using the brain/body connection.
• Narrative Work: Safely telling parts of your story in new ways for healing.
• Attachment-informed Supportive Therapy: Understanding relationships and how bonds are made.
• Dual Processing Model of Grief Therapy: Honoring what’s lost while learning to live again.
• Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: The empirically validated couples method pioneered by Dr. Sue Johnson.
• The Gottman Method of Couple Therapy: The strategic, structured, couples method based on the research of Drs. John and Julie Gottman. Their methods are based on 40 years of clinical research following 3,000+ couples. Couples were followed for up to 20 years.
• The Bader Developmental Model of Couple Therapy: Understanding that couples are made up of two individuals who will grow at different rates and different times, and working with the developmental stages relationships go through as the two people change and grow.

And, if you just want to talk without worrying about which style of counseling is right for you, there’s plenty of room for that, too.