Therapy Services

INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

Description

Therapy is a sanctuary for you, a safe, non-judgmental space where you can take refuge from life’s roles and expectations to express yourself authentically and be accepted in your most authentic expression.

Who couldn’t use a trusted and safe person and space with whom to brainstorm, vent, laugh, cry, problem solve, process deep emotions, discover new things about yourself, validate your experiences, find and apply your strengths, heal the past, and change your present for a brighter future? Everyone goes through difficult situations in life, and while you may have successfully navigated many of these, there’s nothing wrong with seeking out extra support when you need it.

We are in this together. When you seek out therapy as a solution, you are making a commitment to take responsibility for your life and change the situation. It does not matter what or who caused the situation or how long the situation has existed. All you know is that your life is not working as well as you would like and you are ready to do things differently. Whether short or long term, therapy provides lasting benefits and support that is useful at any stage of life.

Therapy cannot change other people or circumstances, yet it can give you the ability to change your own life. Generally the more you show up and engage in your therapy, the more you will get out of it. You are in charge of the process. I am a trusted guide who will open many doorways for you to choose to walk through towards your healing goals. Though I cannot tell you how long it will take to feel better, when we work together powerful change can happen.

COUPLES & FAMILY THERAPY

Description

Relationships are complex and exciting, and couples can find both joy and pain with each other. No matter your age or how long you have been together, the search to feel that sense of belonging, connection, and meaning through relationship is a powerful force. This drive influences our decisions and actions in partnership on every level.

In addition, our partners push the pain buttons installed by our childhood experiences, giving us, shall we say, “another opportunity for growth.” Whether we like it or not, the partners we choose can be the perfect person for us to work out these childhood experiences that intrude our adult lives.

Are you responding or reacting to this clarion call? Do you have the awareness and skills to grow into ever greater versions of yourselves, separate yet together? Or are you feeling ripped apart and cannot see a way out? If you are in a new relationship and want to bring awareness and skills to avoid repeating the same results from your last relationship…If you are in a long-term relationship and your differences or lack of connection and communication has led to resentment and fighting…there is a way out.

Let’s work together to explore and deepen your skill and ease in relationship. Each couple has its own system of patterns and dynamics and by tuning into these various systems you can best make and sustain change.

For example, if we just focus on communication, all the skills you learn when you are calm and collected go offline when you are very emotional or upset. A common combination I use to resource healing with couples is Brainspotting to reconcile the childhood experiences each of you carry into the relationship and nonviolent communication skills to offer each other empathy, clarity, and connection.

This is a time and place to receive support, validation, coping skills, and strategies to change your perspective and practice behaviors that better serve you. You both are in charge of the process, by taking responsibility, creating greater self-awareness, and working towards change!

Brainspotting

What Is Brainspotting?

Discovered in 2003 by David Grand, Ph.D, brainspotting is a cutting edge, neurologically-based form of deep and rapid non-verbal healing. It is practiced by thousands of therapists all over the world. The power and rapid healing of this technique comes from the relationship between the therapist and client held in dual-attunement and the connections between the brain and body. Brainspotting is based on the premise that the brain is self-healing. My role as your therapist is to set and hold a “frame” that promotes your innate self-healing capacities.

For more information, here are some helpful links:

Dr. David Grand

Rocky Mountain Brainspotting Institute 

Jewish Transgenerational Trauma

Helping Jewish individuals and families break the chain of transgenerational trauma to free themselves, their children, and future generations from the burdens of the past to live more fully now. 

Description

Transgenerational trauma is typically explored through genealogy, cultural knowledge, pictures, and oral family anecdotes or narratives. Not commonly addressed are the innate emotional patterns and deep-rooted personal struggles of our ancestors. The experiences of your grandparents and even great-great grandparents can affect your story and your children’s stories today.

Researchers call this epigenetics, a field of study that looks at the ways behaviors and our environment influence our genetic development in the womb. Transgenerational trauma is when the trauma of our parents and grandparents, going back many generations, genetically is passed to children. Simply put, we inherit family trauma with changes to our DNA.

 The Effects of Transgenerational Trauma 

We can unconsciously experience the effects from trauma without ever experiencing that trauma firsthand. Grief, depression, abuse, addiction, anxiety, survival coping mechanisms, and attachment issues all can result from war-related trauma, genocide, immigration, and forceable removal from traditional homelands. These transgenerational issues can manifest as symptoms and illnesses in the body as unexplained fear, guilt, shame; or other physical, emotional, or behavioral patterns. We hold these emotional and physical patterns in our bodies and brains.

 Intergenerational versus Transgenerational Trauma

Intergenerational trauma consists of familial and cultural traits passed down between the generations. Some are born with a green thumb like great-granddad. Others follow the family tradition of becoming a doctor or joining the military. Maybe you stand at the stove with one hand on your hip like your mom. There is conscious choice to either claim these traits or walk away from them. We can bring understanding to the stories we inherit, realize they are not the Truth, and learn to re-write and live new stories.

There is no choice with transgenerational trauma. Most people unconsciously live out the consequences of this inheritance as repetitive, life-limiting patterns, and may never recognize the power and capacity to transform their life story. Trauma memories can be biologically inherited because of the basic functions of our protective brain. For example, the imprints of fear inherited as part of transgenerational trauma are long-lasting because our brains record them to inform us of danger at a later time.

The Epigenetics of Generational Trauma

In his book, Epigenetics-The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance, Richard C. Francis, PhD reports how the biology of trauma is passed along to the fetus, biasing the unborn child to stress. For example, when a pregnant mother is stressed, she produces more cortisol. Some of this cortisol is transmitted to the fetus through the placenta. This elevated cortisol level permanently adjusts the stress resilience settings of the fetus, making it prone to be hypersensitive to stressful events later in life.

Relatedly, Francis writes how the children of mothers who suffered PTSD as a result of the Holocaust are more likely to develop PTSD, even though they had no direct experience of the Holocaust. His research found that though all children of Holocaust survivors were more prone to depression, second-generation PTSD is only elevated in those whose mothers suffered PTSD. Fathers who experienced PTSD as a result of the Holocaust did not pass this trait along to their children. This research implies that inherited factors experienced in the womb are more likely to affect children’s emotions and behaviors than their social and cultural environments.

The Good News? You Can Heal this Historical Trauma.

We begin by bringing understanding and awareness to the transgenerational trauma. It may be at the root of many of your personal issues. This knowledge is key to reclaiming your choice and your power to minimize dysfunctional behavioral patterns in yourself. You have the power to end these cycles of familial suffering and redeem family dynamics, and prevent these patterns from continuing with your children and their children.

You are not responsible for bearing the burden of the past, so now that you are aware of it, are you interested in freeing yourself and your family from its weight?

Brainspotting for Lasting Healing and Change 

Yes? Let’s work together using Brainspotting, timeline intakes, and other therapeutic modalities to move you forward along the path of generational recovery. Prepare for your sessions by becoming curious about your own ancestry and inherited traits. Make note of significant personal and familial historical experiences, patterns, and repetitive dreams.

You will bring conscious access to the memories in your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, as well as connect with the felt sense of these memories in your body. There may be a temporary distress with the remembering that is required for the reorganization in your brain and body systems. Know that this is a road to empowerment, integration, and freedom.

Re-member Yourself and Your Ancestral History

Bring compassion to your ancestors’ struggles and serve as witness to the old and new stories emerging for you and your family. Give voice to what has been unspoken for perhaps generations. Re-member yourself, your history, and the history of your ancestors. Weave a new story that will be remembered for generations to come.

Creativity Enhancement for Writers

Overcome creative obstacles like writer’s block or performance anxiety and tap into the brain’s ability to heal and create new connections. Let’s manifest your writing dreams!

Description

Stress can impede any aspect of the writing process – from visioning to writing and editing, all the way to meeting deadlines and promoting your work.  A trauma experienced in your lifetime related to writing and creative expression through writing, such as a public criticism that felt humiliating, for example, is known as performance trauma. Performance traumas accumulate in the nervous system of the writer from childhood and ultimately lead to performance blocks and anxiety.

Brainspotting provides a powerful ability to overcome creative obstacles like writer’s block or performance anxiety so that your creativity can flow. It taps into the brain’s ability to heal and create new connections. This direct access to the body and the deepest parts of the brain reconnects you with your most creative self.

Classic talk therapy often falls short in helping you get rid of these negative effects and reach your maximum potential. Since Brainspotting is a brain-body treatment, it allows clients to process their trauma while also untangling the thoughts and beliefs attached to the trauma. This leads to relief from stuck trauma that causes negative effects that writers may experience during their creative lifetimes.

Have a creative project in mind and feel stuck? Let’s combine Brainspotting while we work on your creative idea! Click on Writing & Book Consultation for more information on how to bring your creative dreams alive.

Reclaim Your Spiritual Spark

Description

Wondering what it would be like to have a more consistent spiritual practice as part of your life? Don’t know where to begin?

Some may describe themselves as spiritual without adhering to the principles of any religion or even having any religious thought. For others, religion is the manifestation of their spirituality. This manifestation may involve the performance of rituals—in one tradition or in some combination of traditions—with varying degrees of commitment and involvement in that faith.

Spirituality may also describe the attention people pay to their own and others’ well-being. For many, dance, yoga, journaling, or meditation are expressions of their spirituality. Some people find spiritual connection with the natural world, basking in a stand of trees or swimming in the ocean. However one defines spirituality, it usually involves a connection between people and something that feels bigger than themselves. This could be a higher power, a forest, the universe, gods or God, or social justice, to name only a few.

To help you reclaim your spiritual sparks, I integrate therapeutic modalities with a multi-faith, Earth-based spirituality. With my expertise as an ordained Interfaith Minister and a Jewish lay leader and educator, I can help you explore your own unique, authentic spiritual voice.

Discover what might be standing in your way to living with a spiritual connection. Bridge the mystical with modern life. Learn prayers or stories that are relevant, accessible, and meaningful for your spiritual practice. Dance, draw, write, read, or sing your practice, perhaps all at once! Or stay silent and bask there.

Explore and create a relationship with your own voice and Spirit. Experience the connection your heart has yearned for all these years.