My Specialties Include Using a Social Justice Perspective to hold:
Anxiety: (also understood as nervousness or worry) can cause us to feel paralyzed by panic, fear and uncertainty. Manifesting itself in the most inconvenient times, anxiety can keep us from getting the rest we need, encouraging us to self medicate or compensate in other maladaptive ways. Anxiety takes a toll on our relationships, the ability to do our jobs and taxes our overall feeling of well being. Therapy for anxiety can help alleviate these stressors by helping people feel more grounded and less overwhelmed when facing the many challenges of daily life.
Trauma: (may include any event in which you experience extreme fear or uncertainty of yours or a loved ones safety) can cause mood swings, isolation, difficulty being alone, as well as unpredictable bouts of depression, anxiety, fear and panic. Feeling unsafe can cause us to numb feelings or react in ways that seem out of character. Therapy for trauma can help reduce re-activity, regulate emotional responses, and increase distress tolerance.
Addiction Behaviors: (may include using drugs or alcohol but can extend to all behaviors such as rage, sex or gambling) can be used to 'numb out' or get in touch with feelings we are uncomfortable with. Using Harm Reduction, therapy can help clients explore using substances or behaviors in ways that allow them to get the positive rewards without the negative consequence.
Depression: (also understood as lack of motivation, feelings of worthlessness or pervasive sadness) can feel hopeless and stifle meaning from your life. It can manifest as physical pain and can create a heaviness over our everyday interactions. Therapy for depression can help lift some of that weight by increasing motivation to preserver and by fostering further understanding of ways in which we can support ourselves through low moods.
Grief: (the loss of something, someone, some idea, some piece of our identity or a dream) can feel similar to depression with a added feeling of emptiness. Grief is often misunderstood and minimized. Negative self talk and preconceived notions of how one 'should' handle loss can often prevent people from healing from the loss. Therapy for grief can help give a person the space needed to heal.
Self Worth/ Self Compassion: Not to be confused with self esteem, self worth is often misunderstood and can feel elusive. A genuine belief in ones own self worth allows a person to maneuver through the natural highs and lows of life. By learning to reduce judgments and increase compassion people can begin to feel at home in their lives and comfortable in their skin. Therapy to create a solid feeling of self worth can foster greater equanimity and a feeling of wholeness while reducing anxiety and depression.
Interpersonal Effectiveness (including Premarital Counseling): Effective communication can be difficult, knowing how to interact with others while getting your own needs met is a skill. The possibility to be misunderstood or misunderstand others is presented in interactions with our friends, family, teachers and employers on a daily basis. These misunderstanding can leave us feeling manipulated, ignored and cause us to be mistrustful. In couples it can cause us to isolate and withdrawal from even the most basic conversations. Despite the famous lyrics by The Beatles "All you need is love," sometimes love is not all you need. Couples often realize that more is necessary when planning a life together. Questions arise about child raising, in-laws, family planning, sex and money. Therapy directed to enhance interpersonal effectiveness can allow people to find clarity around what they need and help them to respect what others need, it can foster easier communication and increase peoples confidence in their relationships.