Anxiety and Depression
Oftentimes we live our daily lives distracting, avoiding, or numbing. When this happens, anxiety and depression are trying to communicate something to us: they want us to pay attention to them. Our thoughts and emotions do a good job trying to communicate that there is something not aligning here. When we suppress our emotions, we may experience depression. When we have worrisome or fearful thoughts, we may experience anxiety.
As your counselor, I work to hold a safe space to explore destructive thought patterns, listen, and validate the emotions we learn to become more curious about what our body is trying to communicate. After processing and recognizing thought patterns that have been creating anxiety/depression, evidence-based practices such as CBT or DBT will help disrupt old patterns of thinking. Working on a new script to play over and over again in your mind will take time, but it is so worth it!
Chemical Dependency and Addiction
I believe addiction is rooted from emotional pain and unmet needs. As Canadian physician Gabor Mate once asked, “The first question isn’t why the addiction; it’s why the pain?” Working with attachment theory and processing adverse childhood experiences can help identify ways in which addictive behaviors offer short-term benefits and long-term costs, making it difficult to actually meet underlying needs. When we begin to process the pain or emotional unmet need, we begin to become more aligned with our sense of identity.
Abandonment and Neglect
Emotional abuse has far more of an impact on us than we realize. Being abandoned or neglected emotionally will have a long-lasting imprint on our identity. The effects on one’s sense of self may include low self-esteem, lack or self-confidence, acting out sexually, loneliness, failure syndrome, perfectionism, shame, unrealistic guilt, or unresolved anger or resentment. Physical effects may include addictions, depression, anxiety, digestive disturbances, panic attacks, unexplained physical pain, or eating disorders. Effects on relationships may include a lack of intimate relationships, codependency, inappropriate relationships, isolation from others, or excessive compliance or passivity. Together we will work to target the root cause so the effects on your sense of self is growing– free from the impacts of emotional abuse.
Trauma and PTSD
When we experience trauma, the mind and body become disconnected. Dissociation happens to protect ourselves and later we may experience a disconnect with ourselves and others. Together in session we will work to integrate the mind and body through movement. I believe ecotherapy, walking in nature and exploring new activities together, will support the healing process. Healing the inner child is one direction to integrate the wounded parts of our story. As you begin to tell your story, I will provide a safe presence and join in the heartache as you begin to process your pain. Our bodies hold the trauma; when we begin to voice and name the heartache and pain in ways our younger self was unable to do, the inner child begins to feel seen and heard. I believe a huge part of healing is tending to our inner child and creating places for the inner child to feel seen and heard, and offering the space to be the authentic self.