Approach
Because my approach emerges in response to the unique needs of the person in front of me, a general summary of it is a bit difficult.
Person-centered, Narrative, Psychodynamic, and Schema therapies influence my practice, but I draw from any knowledge base that seems useful and within my scope.
But there are some core, consistent elements that I bring to every therapeutic relationship.
I describe some of these elements below in my responses to some commonly asked questions:
Common Questions
What’s the point?
The point or purpose of therapy varies with each person and often changes over the course of a therapeutic relationship.
But in general, I see therapy as always offering:
A private, consistent place to articulate yourself to yourself, with the help of another person who specializes in facilitating that kind of thing.
A relationship where you can work through difficulties with relationship—with yourself and with others.
A space where your attention and mine are focused entirely on your well-being.
Overall, I see therapy’s most basic point as being about helping a person live more in meaningful action and less in unconscious reaction to things like history, fear, patterns, habits, shames, and distortions.
What’s the model?
Without getting too dogmatic, the therapeutic model at play in my work is biopsychosocial, psychodynamic, person-centered, and postmodern
Biopsychosocial
This just means that I see anyone I work with as being influenced by biological, psychological, and social forces. None is seen as more real or important than another.
Psychodynamic
Following psychodynamic theory, I assume the reality of the unconscious and its mechanisms, as well as the influential impact of early relationships on the psyche.
Person-Centered
Person-centered therapy emphasizes empathy, dignity, and understanding people on their own terms. Person-centered therapists believe that everyone has innate capacities to heal and grow, but that these can get blocked by threat, fear, trauma, and limiting beliefs.
Postmodern
Postmodern therapy emphasizes forces of discourse, narration, and language, while raising important questions about perspective, truth, and selfhood. It opens our ears to power, ideology, blindspots, and desire.
What’s the method?
The model briefly described above gives us some ideas about what to pay attention to, what to listen for and how to listen, and what counts as meaningful “data.” In other words, the model suggests a general method.
Our work will be and feel like a warm, improvised conversation that encourages you to speak freely, spontaneously, and without fear of judgment.
While this conversation unfolds, we’ll be working on noticing the data listed here and interpreting what it tells us about your needs.
Here are some of the data that are at play in a therapeutic relationship:
Family system
Body language
Assumptions
Projections
Your history and autobiography
Narration and tone: the way you say things and the implications of your narrations.
Cognitions and metacognition
Social forces and stressors
Defenses
Repetitions
The interpersonal: how we relate
Transference and counter-transference
Affective states
Self-concept and identifications
Core beliefs and schemas
Values
Coping strategies and adaptations
Feelings: what you feel and don’t feel
Slips, dreams, and fantasies
Speech: what you say and don’t say.
Distortions
Desires
InternalizedMessages