What is therapy?

Psychotherapy is a modality for seeking healing from adverse life experiences, from distress, from whatever ails us psychologically, and moving towards a life and future that feel more fulfilling. It is often about recognizing and letting go of the things that no longer serve us so that we can be freer in a particular moment to choose how to respond. Greater clarity and an increased sense of being able to manage what life throws at us on a daily basis are signs that therapy is working! I see the role of therapy as not just about getting out of distress and back up to baseline, but also about finding ways to truly thrive, and believe that in fact we cannot have one without the other. To just be surviving the days is often accompanied by significant stress and healing is often accompanied by finding ways to feel more balanced and satisfied.

What is your approach to therapy?

I pull from a mix of modalities - above all, the client is the center of my work. I seek first to best understand what has presented difficulties or is a source of distress, if there are blocks to reaching certain goals, or if new strategies are needed. After the needs have been assessed, I would then pull from a range of approaches which I am trained in, including psychodynamic, narrative, cognitive behavioral, hypnotherapy and Eye Moment Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) in order to best serve the needs of the client. I find this range to be very important because I do not believe that it is the client’s job to fit into whatever modality I have trained in, but instead that it is my job to best serve the unique person sitting in front of me.

What can I expect in a first session?

In the first session I will assess thoroughly with you what brings you to therapy and what you hope to see happen. I will likely have some questions about your background and previous experiences, as well as what you might have already tried in terms of approaching things differently in your life. Together we would then talk about a plan for how we might move towards your goals or future vision. I might also have you do some homework after this session in terms of observing and making notes about particular aspects of your life. Building awareness is an important step, but of course it is not the only one and we would certainly be working towards other practical ones.

How often will we meet?

Typically at the beginning of working with someone I would encourage weekly sessions. This gives sufficient time between sessions to reflect on what we’ve been working on, or to try out new strategies, while not giving so much time that we lose momentum. This frequency may continue if it feels helpful to the client, or at a certain point we might space out to a lesser frequency.

How will I know when I am finished with therapy?

This depends most of all on what you hope to gain from the therapeutic process. Sometimes people come to see me with a very specific goal or issue in mind, and when they feel that they have addressed this sufficiently, then our work together is through. Others may find that while they experience an initial period of working through a particular issue, healing from the past, or coping more effectively in the present, that they would then benefit from continued guidance and support. This may take place at a similar cadence to how it was at the beginning, or we may space out to a decrease in frequency.