Tel: 919-771-9285
Services
I believe that the development of a trusting and compassionate relationship between a client and their therapist is the most essential aspect of therapy. Working from a foundation of mutual trust and respect, we can build the kind of collaborative relationship essential to making therapy highly effective at reducing emotional suffering and improving your life, relationships, work, and mood.
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I work with a wide range of emotional and behavioral issues. I often find that clients seek counseling most frequently for help in resolving struggles in their relationships or for support while they are in the midst of big life transitions. However, human beings are so complex and life is so dynamic that the list of reasons that bring clients to therapy is long.
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Our conscious beliefs and expectations about ourselves and others influence us emotionally every day. However, our unconscious beliefs, assumptions, and expectations not in our awareness can cause us to repeat old, self-defeating patterns. These thoughts can limit us without our even being aware of them; causing pain and frustration. Therapy allows us the opportunity to explore and change these perspectives that may be holding us back and keeping us from living the life we long for.
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I like to work with my clients from a holistic perspective; incorporating Cognitive Behavioral and Psychodynamic Therapy, self-empowerment techniques, nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness practices, particularly when dealing with long standing emotional regulation issues. You will gain an understanding of the effectiveness of all of these tools, and you will have the freedom to choose the ones that work for you.
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Here you will learn all about taking back control of your brain. You will gain tools and techniques for mastering your mind so that you can begin to live a positive, balanced and happier life.
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Individual Counseling
When we are in conflict with the people we love the most it can be truly painful. Most of us have never been shown what a healthy relationship looks like in terms of relating to one another and working through issues. Fear, our egos, and shame can all get in the way. Once a pattern of unhealthy relating has been established, it can be hard to change on our own with so many hurt feelings and misunderstandings, which is usually when we discover we need help. The tension between us and our partners can make it hard to feel heard and understood.
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As a neutral third party, I’m here to help you listen to each other in a supportive and safe environment where both parties can find understanding. In this calm environment we can work together to find a peaceful resolution, allow for both people to get the understanding you need and establish healthier ways of relating. I am here to help you both feel supported and more able to respond to the situation at hand in a thoughtful and bigger-picture view, and to slowly decrease the tendency to simply react to problems in ways that are unhelpful to the relationship.
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Issues I work with:
- Communication difficulties and feeling misunderstood
- Anger and aggression (physical and verbal)
- Unresolved and re-occurring arguments
- Differences in expressions of intimacy, and the giving and receiving of pleasure
- Premarital Counseling
- Rebuilding trust
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Couples Counseling
I have worked extensively with adolescents. I was an "At Risk" guidance counselor at a Title VIII middle school. It was my job to help the students who had the most challenging presentations, and usually the most challenging lives. I have experience treating adolescents dealing with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, oppositional defiance, self-harming behaviors, eating disorders and ADHD.
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I love working with adolescents. I think they are remarkable in their ability to adapt and change and to learn to see things from the perspective of other people. The problem is that at this developmental stage, their task is to separate themselves from their caregivers. The odds that they are going to listen to their parents is not high. Parenting an unhappy, angry, anxious, depressed or oppositionally defiant adolescent can challenge even the most patient parent.
The thing is, they don't really like this period either. They are doing the very best they can, believe it or not. They are just limited in their ability to cope, to understand, and to communicate because they are kids. We often forget all of this, usually because they don't look like kids and often they don't sound like kids anymore, but they are kids.
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Let's face it, adolescence is hard. Everything is felt so much more acutely, we all feel so awkward and as though life is just one big secret that we have all been left out of. At this age, we feel that our parents don't know anything and are just bent on our destruction and embarrassment. We are desperately trying to figure it all out, and there is so much to figure out. We are lost, but we don't dare tell anyone. It can be a frightening time for us and for the people who love us.
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What we will work on together is recreating the kind of relationship between you and your child which will bring peace back to your home. Your child will learn better coping strategies and develop a healthier way to express their inner worlds.