Relational, somatic, spiritually engaging therapy
Engaging the spirit
Your spirituality is welcome, respected, and honored in our therapeutic work. I believe that spirituality offers support and guidance for this process in a way that would be an enormous loss to ignore. That being said, there is no requirement to have a clearly defined spiritual practice or understanding to engage in this work together. What I’m really proposing is a respect for your intuition and other things that go beyond our capacity to “understand”. Perhaps that means your ancestors and guides are showing up in our work, or maybe it just means you have a sense of what’s most important to focus on that day. Maybe theres a ritual you’d like to incorporate into our session, such as practicing a loving-kindness meditation, bringing in a photo of a loved-one, saying a prayer, offering gratitude, acknowledging spiritual guides, whatever is important to you that guides or deepens your process of healing. You are fully in charge of how and to what degree this enters into our work together.
Internal Family Systems
I get excited about Internal Family Systems (IFS) because it feels less like traditional therapy and more like magic, and who doesn’t get excited about magic? The basic idea in IFS is that all human personalities are made up of multiple “parts”, and while each has a role and positive intention, they might not always agree on what’s best (sort of like an internal family). A simple example might be a part of you that deeply enjoys watching an entire Netflix series in one evening while another part of you feels guilty about it. Another example would be a part of you that wants to stand up for yourself in relationships while another freezes when the moment arrives. My role is to help you explore these parts of yourself with curiosity and compassion at a pace and in a way that feels safe to you. We respect the part of you that freezes, get to understand why it’s happening, and see if perhaps there is a terrified part of you that needs to be taken care of before it’s safe to risk standing up for yourself. This is not a process of pruning, forcing, and suppressing, but rather a process of understanding and integrating all the unique aspects of yourself into an authentic whole.
Including the body
Our bodies hold both our personal histories and the histories of our families, ancestors and cultures. There is so much information, intelligence, and capacity to heal in our bodies that gets ignored when we rely solely on talk therapy. In our work together you will be invited (never forced) to notice and explore what sensations are happening in your body as an important source of information. You may also find that your body wants to move, shift, tighten, relax, shake, dance, or make noise as a way to process and release stuck emotions or integrate experiences (again, this is always up to your sense of safety and intuition).
Using our relationship
My relational approach is based in Gestalt theory, which encourages both therapist and client to show up authentically (even when there are differences) in order to make true “contact” with one another. This aspect of our work involves you getting to know what it is actually like for me to be with you, and for you to explore what it’s like for you to be with me. My goal in facilitating this contact with you is primarily to increase your awareness of yourself (sensations, feelings, desires, beliefs, behaviors, patterns, etc…), and not to direct you towards any particular way of being. I wholeheartedly believe in your capacity to know for yourself what you need and how to pursue it. Our relationship provides a safe container for you to explore patterns and practice new strategies that increase your chances of getting what you want and need.