Psychotherapy, Inner Child Therapy & "Parts" Work

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I worked with childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect as a child and family social services caseworker for about 15 years before I became a licensed professional counselor.

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This work informed how I view persistent emotional and behavioral difficulties and inspired me to integrate inner child therapy, parts work and hypnotherapy.

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These are methods in which we are able to access parts of self that have been shut down, forgotten, and disconnected, and who, equally, continue to press forward in the form of triggers, in an attempt to be noticed, rescued, and healed. In reintegrating these sacred parts of self, clients are finally able to unhook from long-term, dysfunctional patterns of behavior. 

 

This type of psychotherapy is particularly helpful for people who may have done work around a specific issue but have not seen any dramatic changes in how they function in their lives. This is usually because the type of therapy did not reach the emotional/experiential realm where the trauma resides.

 

When therapeutic interventions for emotional trauma are kept in the cognitive space, the trauma is not fully processed. There might be a great deal of understanding of why particular behaviors persist related to your trauma, but releasing those behaviors is often elusive; It is impossible to cure an emotional issue be staying in the cognitive field.

 

The work I do with clients is deep, emotions-based, and experiential. This does not mean, however, that it's brutal. Healing from trauma does not have to be traumatic in itself. And this is why I take my cues from you, the client.

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I believe in your internal knowing and my goal is to reconnect you with it.

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I believe that therapy is not meant to make you become a different person; It is to recover who you've been all along. 

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I believe in the quiet, subtle power that uncovering and giving voice to your truth can infuse into your life. By speaking your truth you are then able to accept yourself fully and lovingly and only then can you heal.

 

And I see my part in this process as providing a secure, safe space in which my clients can explore their experiences, thoughts, feelings, wounds, and emotions without pressure or judgment and providing guidance and direction when things become unclear or unfocused.

 

Together my clients and I gain insight into their situations and we develop coping skills that are comfortable and effective.

 

And little by little we gain firm footing in the new lives they have created.​​

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Reiki, Energy Healing, & Spiritual Guidance

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I see human beings as multifaceted and as such, healing as multidimensional.

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Reiki is a form of energy healing in which the practitioner channels high vibrational light  (energy) into the recipient in order to dispel negative or stuck energy that has caused or contributed to dysfunction or impaired functioning. 

 

The incorporation of Reiki and other energy-based modalities, while not necessary, does act to enhance the client's ability to heal by accessing not only the physical, mental, and emotional bodies, but also the spiritual body, which includes the astral, etheric and causal planes, among others. ​

 

It is within these more elevated planes that generational trauma, past/future timelines, and karmic entanglements lie. It is also where higher conscious supports may be accessed, to include ancestors, spirit guides and the Higher Self. 

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It is not uncommon that energy healing will open up connection to higher dimensional information that may be channeled during healing sessions.

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This is an entirely different healing experience than typical talk therapy and the decision to include it should be made with regard to one's own past experience with and understanding of spirituality.

 

Unfortunately, spiritual abuse by religions that seek to maintain control of others through fear and shame is a common experience for survivors of childhood trauma and could cause triggering during energy healing sessions if this has not been sufficiently cleared.

 

For this reason, Reiki, energy healing and spiritual guidance will not be included in any client's treatment protocol unless and until the client requests it.

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While energy healing methods can be incredibly helpful, it should be noted that healing from trauma is completely possible without inclusion of these more esoteric methods. The deeper type of psychotherapy that I practice can accomplish total healing of trauma on its own, so there is no pressure to incorporate any means of healing.

 

The most important aspect of healing from trauma is that you recover and honor your own voice in what is best and most comfortable for you.

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