Most people seek out a therapist because of emotional or psychological pain that has overwhelmed a person’s ability to cope.  In most cases, old, habitual ways of dealing with psychic pain no longer seem to work.  This pain often has its origin in old wounds that have been reopened by current relationships and events in a person’s life. 

Our problems often began in our early years, when we experienced trauma or some form of psychic wounding that we were unable to cope with, mostly because we didn’t have the psychological tools at that early age.  We did not possess the ability to tolerate, process, and understand overwhelming feelings, so we developed ways to repress, deny, or avoid them.  These feelings got driven underground into our unconscious, where they remained hidden from us and continued to influence us in often detrimental ways.  We did this, not because we were sick or defective, but because we needed to survive. 

Unfortunately, our inability to experience or process these unacknowledged experiences and feelings has done great damage to us.  For some, it has adversely affected our ability to form healthy and intimate relationships.  It has distorted the way we view ourselves and others.  It has led us to develop unhealthy patterns of relating to others, patterns that often repeat over and over again.  It has inhibited our ability to develop our true and authentic selves.  For many, these repressed feelings express themselves in the form of depression or anxiety.  

Healing happens as we are able to fully experience, express and understand the feelings that we have avoided, work through them, integrate them into our lives, and create new and better ways of coping with them.

My first priority as a therapist is to create a safe and nurturing space within which healing and growth can take place.  In that space, we uncover, explore and process the psychological and emotional wounds that are causing current problems.  We challenge the dysfunctional belief systems that have formed around early injuries and work at developing beliefs that will better serve us.  We try out new and better ways of relating to ourselves and others.  We explore healthier ways of coping with feelings as they do emerge, learning to tolerate and express them in positive ways.

My approach is interactive, dynamic, and relational.  I do not sit back in a passive way.  I actively listen, seeking to understand how my clients experience themselves and others.  I look for ways that old wounds have been affecting them and how those injuries may be expressing themselves in the present, both in their life and in the therapeutic relationship.  I actively respond by reflecting upon what is presented in session, providing insight where I can into a person’s present and past experiences and their influence upon current psychological functioning.  Most of all, whenever it appears that repressed experiences and feelings are emerging in the hour, I gently press for their expression so that we can work through them.  While we do explore the original wounds from the past, the focus is on the present and how those old wounds impact our lives today.

The process can sometimes be difficult and uncomfortable, especially as unconscious experiences and feelings come to the surface; however, as many will testify, those who embark on this journey eventually experience sufficient healing and wholeness to make the journey worth their effort.  I hope you will, too.