Specialized Care
I specialize in working with highly sensitive people (HSPs). There are about 20% of the population found to have extra biological sensitivity. Generally speaking, they are overwhelmed by tMyers-Briggs / Jungian Typology: test to clients just to get a baseline measure of how they're wired to experience themselves, others and the world around them. I will employ the use ofAs each person is unique, I don't employ a one size fits all approach. Once I get to know you, I will work with you to determine the best approach for you. Sometimes things can be addressed in a pretty straight forward way. Therapies that primarily work at the level of cognition (thinking errors)...often considered "top-down" approaches can be sufficient to get you where you want to be. These include:
Traditional talk therapy: Reflective listening can support a client to think through and discover their own solutions. Many people find this approach to be all they want or need as they just need someone to talk to that they don't know on a personal level.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (a close cousin of CBT) to teach skills of mindfulness, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
ADHD Coaching: Often, I will offer coaching on skills to manage ADHD, or to help someone achieve goals to improve health and wellness, such as eating better, sleeping and exercising.
Sometimes, it is necessary to go deeper. This is most often when someone has a history of trauma or relationship wounding involving abuse or neglect. This is more than a "splinter" situation. It's like brain surgery. The same truth applies, however, even in these cases. The psyche knows how to heal when obstacles are removed. A trauma informed approach understands that it is the body that stores the memories of events that occurred often many years ago. This involves what is referred to as a "bottom-up" approach. When processing traumatic memories, one must connect to their body to heal. The body is part of the unconscious. So I use modalities that elicit non-ordinary states of consciousness, where information is stored outside of conscious awareness (often experienced as imagery or physical sensations). These include:
Eye Movement Desensitazion and Reprocessing (EMDR): Utilizing bilateral stimulation with eye movement (or tapping) we are able to facilitate processing much as what occurs during dream states in REM sleep. In 2007, I was trained by the EMDR Institute in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and have been truly stunned at the outcomes I've seen in clients.
Clinical Hypnosis: Hypnosis has been around since at least the 1600s in some form or another. In 2018/2019 I completed training programs with the Milton Erickson Foundation and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and became certified in March 2020.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy through Polaris Insight Center. Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, allows for a person to reach a deeply hypnotic state of consciouness medicinally. Ketamine clinics have exploded over the last few years offering clients IV and injections which offer a psychedelic experience. This can be an overwhelming, yet necessary for treatment resistent depression. But at smaller dosages, used in psychotherapy, it can be quite helpful in just processing.
Parts Work: There are many approaches to working with different "parts" of the psyche, one of the best frameworks I've experienced is Internal Family Systems (IFS). This involves going inside, similar to hypnosis, and interacting with parts that are anxious, angry, critical. These are considered to be their own. Find out more in "No Bad Parts" by Dr. Richard Schwartz. I am currently in the process of learning Internal Family Systems (IFS).
Psychedelic Integration and Harm Reduction (PIHR): In summer/fall 2020 (while we were all isolating due to the pandemic) I participated in a training program in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy through the Salt City Psychedelic and Research Center (SCPTR) Ketamine is the only legal psychdelic medicine available currently. However, many people have access to psychedelics that are currently illegal. People desperate for healing, when traditional ways have not worked, often set themselves further back when traumatized (or re-traumatized) by such experiences. Therefore, I offer support for those who choose to do this on their own. I will educate clients about how to reduce risk of harm mentally and physically. I support people who have had experiences that they're struggling to make sense of.
Expressive Arts: In contrast to the previously mentioned modalities, expressive arts involves externalizing what you are experiencing internally. It's an excellent way of expressing the experiences you've had as you've gone into the depths of your psyche to surface with the treasues you've discovered. Whether you write, paint, collage, play music, sing, dance, run, play in the sand! Balancing internal and external experience connects you to your environment which enriches your internal experience further. We may do some of this work in our sessions together or I will recommend an appropriate resource for you.
Group support: If you're isolated, I will usually recommend joining a support group or involving yourself in a class or group situation. Sometimes I will offer groups and will let you know when I do.
Bodywork: The healing power of touch....
Yoga: In 2017, I completed a 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training program at the University of Utah.
Traditional talk therapy: Reflective listening can support a client to think through and discover their own solutions. Many people find this approach to be all they want or need as they just need someone to talk to that they don't know on a personal level.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (a close cousin of CBT) to teach skills of mindfulness, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
ADHD Coaching: Often, I will offer coaching on skills to manage ADHD, or to help someone achieve goals to improve health and wellness, such as eating better, sleeping and exercising.
Sometimes, it is necessary to go deeper. This is most often when someone has a history of trauma or relationship wounding involving abuse or neglect. This is more than a "splinter" situation. It's like brain surgery. The same truth applies, however, even in these cases. The psyche knows how to heal when obstacles are removed. A trauma informed approach understands that it is the body that stores the memories of events that occurred often many years ago. This involves what is referred to as a "bottom-up" approach. When processing traumatic memories, one must connect to their body to heal. The body is part of the unconscious. So I use modalities that elicit non-ordinary states of consciousness, where information is stored outside of conscious awareness (often experienced as imagery or physical sensations). These include:
Eye Movement Desensitazion and Reprocessing (EMDR): Utilizing bilateral stimulation with eye movement (or tapping) we are able to facilitate processing much as what occurs during dream states in REM sleep. In 2007, I was trained by the EMDR Institute in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and have been truly stunned at the outcomes I've seen in clients.
Clinical Hypnosis: Hypnosis has been around since at least the 1600s in some form or another. In 2018/2019 I completed training programs with the Milton Erickson Foundation and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and became certified in March 2020.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP): and Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy through Polaris Insight Center. Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic, allows for a person to reach a deeply hypnotic state of consciouness medicinally. Ketamine clinics have exploded over the last few years offering clients IV and injections which offer a psychedelic experience. This can be an overwhelming, yet necessary for treatment resistent depression. But at smaller dosages, used in psychotherapy, it can be quite helpful in just processing.
Parts Work: There are many approaches to working with different "parts" of the psyche, one of the best frameworks I've experienced is Internal Family Systems (IFS). This involves going inside, similar to hypnosis, and interacting with parts that are anxious, angry, critical. These are considered to be their own. Find out more in "No Bad Parts" by Dr. Richard Schwartz. I am currently in the process of learning Internal Family Systems (IFS).
Psychedelic Integration and Harm Reduction (PIHR): In summer/fall 2020 (while we were all isolating due to the pandemic) I participated in a training program in Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy through the Salt City Psychedelic and Research Center (SCPTR) Ketamine is the only legal psychdelic medicine available currently. However, many people have access to psychedelics that are currently illegal. People desperate for healing, when traditional ways have not worked, often set themselves further back when traumatized (or re-traumatized) by such experiences. Therefore, I offer support for those who choose to do this on their own. I will educate clients about how to reduce risk of harm mentally and physically. I support people who have had experiences that they're struggling to make sense of.
Expressive Arts: In contrast to the previously mentioned modalities, expressive arts involves externalizing what you are experiencing internally. It's an excellent way of expressing the experiences you've had as you've gone into the depths of your psyche to surface with the treasues you've discovered. Whether you write, paint, collage, play music, sing, dance, run, play in the sand! Balancing internal and external experience connects you to your environment which enriches your internal experience further. We may do some of this work in our sessions together or I will recommend an appropriate resource for you.
Group support: If you're isolated, I will usually recommend joining a support group or involving yourself in a class or group situation. Sometimes I will offer groups and will let you know when I do.
Bodywork: The healing power of touch....
Yoga: In 2017, I completed a 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training program at the University of Utah.