About Therapy

Imagine your mind is a room in your home.

This room holds all your essential information – memories, history, feelings, thoughts, personal quirks, and every experience. At first, it’s a beautiful place to be: spacious, bright, and creative. You’ve decorated it and enjoy spending time there. The feelings are pleasant when everything is together, and your entire Mind Room is in place.

But over the years, you’ve noticed a slight change. At first, the room got a little stuffy and damp, probably because your fight with a friend ended badly. You crack a window open, which seems to help air it out.

You continue living and acquiring more experiences. They range from exceptional experiences to excruciating moments. The beautiful moments fit easily into their designated memory file, but the painful experiences are big and bulky – they don’t fit in the room neatly. So you find some boxes to put them in.

Painful experiences clutter your Mind Room.

You walk into your Mind Room, and it’s not peaceful anymore. Since things haven’t worked out, you keep stuffing more boxes, and those painful memories in boxes now stack up to the ceiling. Therefore, you start sweeping some issues under the rug because where else should you put them? That rug becomes bulky, making it impossible to walk around anymore.

Looking around the terrible room makes you feel embarrassed. To hide that room from others, you block the window. There’s no space to sit and relax, so you stopped doing that a while back.

Suddenly, your Mind Room is so jam-packed that it’s become a hazard. Things are spilling out everywhere. There’s no way to invite anyone in without them being affected by the mess that’s your Mind Room. You’re desperate for some help because you want to be able to enjoy your Mind Room again.

Then, you decide to search for a Mind Room Cleaner.

While googling for a Mind Room Cleaner, you find me and invite me in. Together, we look around, and I let you know, “Yes, I can help you clean this out. This type of cleaning is my area of expertise. You’re in safe hands.”

Knowing you found help allows you to breathe deep relief because you don’t have to keep living this way. You tell me that you already feel so much better. I help create a game plan for us to tackle the boxes and clean out what doesn’t belong in the room. You show up every week, ready and eager to break down a few more boxes. Soon, we take down the black curtain you put up and let some fresh air, sunlight, and life back into the room. We can see more clearly, so we lift the rug and sweep out everything you’ve been concealing.

Your Mind Room has not returned to its original form, but this new, improved room is much better. There are many compassion, understanding, and essential life lessons in your New Mind Room. They adorn the walls, the corners, and the very essence of the room. You’re not afraid to bring people into your home anymore. There is so much goodness and love to be shared.

You’re so proud of yourself for being courageous enough to reach out for help. It paid off, and now you get to enjoy your Mind Room – and your life – for all the days to come. You’re glad you welcomed me into your space, that we lifted and rolled back the rug and lovingly confronted the scary things together.

And I’ll let you know that walking alongside you was a true honor.

Therapy is much like this!

At first, the work ahead can feel daunting, overwhelming, and sometimes even embarrassing, but you know there’s not another thing left to do other than face it. Therapy with me is like a warm blanket on a chilly day – comforting, needed, and an instant sense of security. You will be met and held with deep empathy, acceptance, and attunement in our work together. I will get to know you and remind you of your qualities, strengths, and talents. Helping you stand confidently in yourself and your abilities is one of the foundational parts of our therapy sessions.

You already have the commitment and tenacity to get to a healthy mind. In therapy, you will receive guidance on how to walk the terrain of your past. At times, there will be moments of doubt, tears, and grief, so I will anchor you to safety as we navigate the depths of your story. You won’t be alone in this work. And you won’t be too much for me. We will get through it.

I like to imagine our therapeutic journey as a supportive, sturdy bridge spanning across the waters of your history. Instead of throwing you back into some of the turbulent waters, therapy provides a new, eagle’s eye perspective of what you went through.

We stand on the bridge with stability, connection, and a secure pathway to safety as we process the complex experiences and big feelings. This therapy bridge is personalized and catered to you and your needs. We’ll work together to find what you’ve been looking for.

Our therapy process will have two phases.

The Exploration Phase comes first. In this phase, we start laying down the foundation of our work. Our work will involve gathering insight into how your story has impacted you, helping you unlearn unhelpful beliefs and replace them with truthful convictions, challenging negative thought patterns, and guiding you to listen to your body and feelings.

The Implementation Phase is all about flexing your mental muscles. You apply what you learn in our sessions to your life and relationships. You will start making connections about your past and present, creating healthier ways to cope with your experiences, and continue growing in self-discovery and self-acceptance.

Since therapy is not linear, these phases overlap and may be out of order. The critical point is that they will happen, regardless of the order, and that’s how you’ll know therapy is working!

Ultimately, therapy is a beautiful conversation between two experts. You are the expert of yourself and your story; I am the expert of psychotherapy (treatment of the mind through verbal communication). Together, we make an unstoppable team headed clearly toward healing, health, and life satisfaction.