Therapy is something one does for a variety of reasons. Maybe you are depressed, or anxious or struggling with a chronic illness or trying to cope with the loss of a loved one, or you are having trouble with communication in a relationship or on the job.  Maybe you are at a life crossroads, making a major change, and need to make some big decisions and choices.  Whatever your reason for seeking out a therapist at this time, therapy should be something that helps you over the rough spots, gives you the skills to help you in the future, and should not become a crutch that you become dependent on.  Yes, people do go in and out of therapy. As they change and their problems change, the reasons for seeking therapy change.  It’s kind of like peeling back an onion: you work on a layer, peel it back, and that layer is taken care of.  You go on with your life, and maybe another bump in the next layer comes up, and maybe you can – and want to – work with it yourself, so you continue on.  Or maybe you want to have the support of a therapist to work with this layer, too.  Whatever you decide is up to you. 

If you would like to  read an article on why people use psychotherapists, and how to choose a therapist, please click here. 

• My approach to therapy is generally that the way we were raised and the way our parents interacted with us, and how they responded to us, is largely responsible for how we are as adults and how we interact in the world. I see this played out over and over again, in the people I see in my practice, in my life as I go about my business, and in my own family -  so I feel that I have solid evidence to back it up.  I also have a background in biology, and because I know a lot about the body, it didn’t surprise me when I learned about the mind-body connection.  And what that connection is about is that we hold a lot of our emotions in our body.  (Candace Pert, a microbiologist, was one of the scientists who helped prove this in the 1970’s with her discovery of opiate receptors.) So when I work with people in my office, my focus is often on what they are feeling in their body, not just thinking about in their head.  People who trigger us now often have some similarity to someone from our past. Therefore, one of my approaches to therapy is that the way you are in your life now is in part tied to old stuff from when you were growing up, whether you know it or not.  The answers are there inside you, somewhere.  If you pay attention to what you are feeling in your body when you have an emotion, you will find the answers.  These feelings are the bridges that will take you back in time to those answers.
  
  There are many approaches to therapy. Some of the ways I work therapeutically include, but are not limited to:
  
  
• Somatic (body) Psychotherapy
  Integrative Mind/Body Psychotherapy
• Mindful Meditation
• Guided Imagery or Visualization
• Good old fashioned Talk Therapy

Therapy is an investment in you.  The cost may seem high at times and it may seem like a luxury. How much are you willing to invest in YOU?  Are you worth the time and effort it takes to feel better, to be the best you that you can be?  Do you want to have a life of quality, or a life of quantity?  Do you want to slog through each day wondering why you can’t seem to find the happiness you somehow expected?  Or do you want to take some time, right now, and make the investment in yourself that you are truly worth and find that joyfulness that can be yours?  Are you worth it?