Support for Relational Difficulties, Anxiety and Trauma
Somatic Psychotherapy
You want to feel good again, be more comfortable in your own body, and be more grounded in your emotions. You want to feel okay spending time with yourself and also be able to really connect with others again, sharing the authentic you.
You are likely here because you know something has to change. You are looking for an internal shift, you don’t want to be in this overwhelm. You know that being able to understand and make sense of your struggles is helpful but you also want to experience a difference in your being. You are open to new possibilities.
Join me in this intentional space, so you may practice the change you seek and engage in your life with more certainty and ease.
Integrated Approach
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There are many forms and styles of psychotherapy. Many psychotherapists have specific modality or theory that informs their unique process. Here, you will find psychodynamic, relational approach that builds on insight when exploring your background, cultural/ethnic influences, societal, historic or familial messaging, and current and past influences. Through this process oriented approach, you will identify patterns, coping skills and gain self awareness to encourage integration.
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Mindfulness therapy is a guided practice that brings awareness to sensory experiences like thoughts, feelings, body sensations and behaviors. With a mindful approach we are attuning our awareness to the here and now. We are also encouraging a disengagement from self related habitual patterns like ruminating thoughts and distressing emotions that can have detrimental effect on well being.
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Somatic Experiencing (SE™) is a body-oriented treatment model for healing unresolved trauma and accumulated stress, developed by Dr. Peter Levine. SE teaches that trauma is the experience of overwhelm in our nervous system in response to a situation or event. SE helps complete unresolved survival responses and discharge self protective mechanisms that were stalled or bound up as energy in the system. Working with an SE approach we will slow down, to feel and not overwhelm the system. You will gradually build tolerance with sensations and emotions that bring discomfort, working little at a time for the nervous system to find completion or restore balance. As Dr. Peter Levine says, “trauma does not have to be a life sentence”. We can heal and grow after trauma.
No matter if you are seeking additional support, help processing past experiences or wanting to find deeper understanding of self, working through the body can help.
Somatic psychotherapy invites exploration of your past while bringing awareness to self in the present moment.
By observing your body response, relational dynamics and intrapersonal patterns, you can start to identify and shift the ongoing influences of distress in your life. You may learn ways to release and experience movement towards integration or completion of unresolved protective responses.
You want to have meaningful relationships and people you can count on, but you don’t have the energy. Taking care of everyone else seems easy but taking care of yourself does not come naturally. You try to understand how come you can’t seem to connect with others. You try to engage differently but notice the same patterns repeating.
Sometimes you misread social cues or feel scared or anxious in otherwise safe situations. This can lead to conflict in your relationships, leave you feeling alone and misunderstood.
You may fear that your experiences from childhood will define you or your relationships. Early life experiences can shape your nervous system and brain development but through practice and experience you can build secure relationships in your life. You are not doomed to repeat the same patterns in relationships over and over again.
In a supported space you will be invited to explore the impacts of early experiences. Through the therapy relationship and lens you will observe and identify your own relational patterns. By understanding how your nervous system plays a role, you will find deeper understanding of yourself and the your connections with others. Listening to your own needs and the needs of others may help you create safe and supportive relationships.
Therapy for Relational Difficulities
Anxiety Therapy
You know anxiety well. You can probably remember the last time anxiety took over. Your heart is racing, your chest feels constricted, you feel shaky, queasy stomach, dry mouth, and tension residing in your back and shoulders. Anxiety can feel debilitating and make you feel you are losing control.
It is hard to believe, but there are also some ways anxiety is helping you to get through your days. You worry about getting a big project done so you spend extra time preparing. You are anxious about being late when meeting friends so you make sure you arrive early. Your alert observation allowed for a quick response so your were not caught off guard. It can be hard to remember how anxiety is helping when it so often feels like a hindrance. Constant worry and always being alert is exhausting. This constant state of stress is like the light switch that is always on, so you feel exhausted, jumpy, have difficulty focusing or completing tasks.
Long term accumulated stress can lead to more chronic symptoms, health problems and dysregulation. Eventually, you may spend more time just taking care of your anxiety so you don’t feel out of control. This may be a sign anxiety is overwhelming your system.
Anxiety does not have to run your life. It is possible to not be exhausted by anxiety.
In therapy, you will explore ways anxiety impacts your life and start to identify your stress response patterns. You will use mindfulness and somatic awareness to engage with your anxiety in a way that is manageable. You will learn to befriend anxiety and build tolerance so anxiety is less overwhelming.
Sometimes unexpected events leave you feeling overwhelmed and startled. You can’t seem to shake what happened in the past. Scary thoughts, dreams or sensations linger and don’t make sense.
You feel stuck, like you are frozen in place. You may notice yourself avoiding, spacing out, feeling more irritable or scared for no reason. You have tried to figure it out on your own but nothing works.
You will find a safe supported space in therapy to begin moving through the difficult places. You will be guided to slowly move through a process that will not overwhelm your nervous system response as what may have happened when you experienced a traumatic event. Working with your nervous system as a framework for understanding your stress response, you start to increase your emotional capacity, connect to your body and increase your sense of relief. You can reintegrate once overwhelming experiences and learn to trust your emotions, sensations and your body again.
Trauma Therapy
