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filler@godaddy.com
Therapy options include Internal Family Systems, EMDR, CBT, ACT Matrix, Havening, and Embodied Modalities
Therapy options include Internal Family Systems, EMDR, CBT, ACT Matrix, Havening, and Embodied Modalities
My practice is primarily devoted to helping adult clients heal from traumatic experiences and transform the highly distressing beliefs, emotions, and behaviors that have long imprisoned them. In Latin the word trauma means "wound." As a therapist I see trauma as an invisible wound to the soul that is manifested in multiple ways. There is a constriction of energy, vitality, passion, spontaneity, creativity, and joy. There is carrying the burdens of pessimism, discouragement, depression, hopelessness, verbal self-attacks, and self-destructive behaviors. There is usually frequent dissociation - disconnecting oneself from the promise of the present moment to numb oneself from memories of past horrors or fears of the future. The good news is that trauma is not forever, and can be healed in therapy. In fact, no matter how extreme the trauma, trauma therapy can help the survivor go well beyond living with every-day misery to having a life filled with rich, rewarding experiences of all kinds. The aliveness and playfulness one felt as a child before all the abuse began can return in full.
I work with trauma survivors because I understand it's not possible to put the past behind you using will power, alcohol, drugs, workaholism or other such methods. As Martha Stout, PhD, put it, "Instead of receding harmlessly into the past, the darkest, most frightening events of childhood and adolescence gain power and authority as we grow older." This is true because childhood trauma imprints on the mind, body, and emotions. It negatively affects the child's brain wiring, psychosocial development, self-image, and capacity to relate enjoyably to others. Children, like adults, try to organize and make sense of their experience based on the messages they receive. When you grow up with a parent who ignored your needs for nurture, love, and validation; a parent who abused you emotionally, physically or sexually; or a parent who was inconsistent - loving you one moment and unpredictably hurting you another; you receive highly negative messages. It is little wonder that the child who received these messages grows up with fixed, negative, and highly distorted beliefs about herself such as, "I am unlovable," "I was a mistake and don't deserve to exist," "I am incompetent and inadequate," "I am not worthy of anyone's love even my own," "I'm helpless" or "the world is unsafe, I can't trust anyone, and I'm better off alone." These beliefs get carried into adulthood even when they dwell in the unconsciousness.
When people with these fixed beliefs meet up with the same challenges and adversities that face everyone else in life, it is harder for them to steer safely through or bounce back from being knocked down. When they fail to respond well to challenges or successfully seize opportunities, they place all the blame on themselves which reinforces and strengthens their old negative self-beliefs. Trauma therapy exists to help clients break free of this negative loop so they can recognize and utilize their strengths, resources, and supports to build a life of quality, enjoyment, meaning, and freedom.
I believe that everyone deserves a chance to be their best, to actualize their full potential, and to wake up most days with feelings of hope, optimism, enthusiasm, and positive expectation. Doesn't that sound better than waking up each day to sadness, dread or feelings of hopelessness, and emptiness? Over the past 30 years there has been a revolution in the field of trauma therapy based on advances in neuroscience, increased understanding of how childhood trauma affects brain development and social behavior, and the creation of brand new therapies that reach and resolve old traumas stored in the brain and the body. Freud's talking cure has morphed into systems of therapy that help clients to activate profound sensory and emotional experiences that heal trauma and its life-long consequences. Knowledge about trauma healing is accelerating at a mind-boggling pace. The crucial thing for an adult client who wants to heal from trauma is to work with a therapist who has focused his education, training, and clinical experience to make this possible. Since graduating with a Master's degree in mental health counseling I have devoted my education, training, and supervised treatment of adult clients to healing trauma.
At this time I am a pre-licensed professional clinical counselor who expects to be licensed in the Spring of 2022. At that time I will be able to see clients at my own office without supervision.
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