Areas of Expertise
Counseling
My life in the arts taught me about the richness of the human experience. I want to share this with my clients.
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Ever written a haiku poem to deal with grief? What about taking a picture of your depression, ever try that? My goal is to help you separate from your thoughts and leave you with some art to show for it.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Let's talk thought work. You have 90,000 thoughts per day. 90% are a repeat from yesterday and 80% are negative. You are not your thinking mind - you are the viewer above the thoughts. Learning to talk back to your thoughts is the first goal.
Art Therapy
We're not going to paint our feelings. Most of us can't paint. But we do live in language and I bet you can put 5,7,5 syllables together to get a haiku going. It's a short, simple way to make a feeling outside of your body. Then, we get to look back at all your haikus to see your progress.
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Everyone has a camera phone and we all take loads of photos. Now, let's try shooting your depression, anxiety, or grief. Dishes pilled up? Shoot it. Laundry everywhere? Shoot it. This is the fastest way to remove yourself from the feelings so you can look at them more objectively.
My Approach
I'm a life long learner in the throws of graduate studies. As I learn, I'm formulating my future approach to therapy.
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I know it starts with a thought ladder. Where are your thoughts now? Let's get on the ladder and make our way to more positive thoughts at the top.
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I know you can retrain your brain to think positively as the first reaction. One of my favorite lines is, "Maybe it'll be alright." Just noticing that there is a possibility of things working out is worth fighting for. We're not doing toxic positivity here - we're retraining the brain to fight for us and not against us.
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Gratitude and grounding - my two favorite tricks to change the brain dialogue. Gratitude is an infinite well of joy - really it is. Try it right now. And grounding helps to snap you out of the future/past thinking. I can feel my shirt, I can feel the sun. I get grounded all the time, it helps to force me right into the present moment which is everything we're after.
