I will work with you to help you create a new path forward.

I will start with understanding where you are now and the challenges that you are facing.  Together we co-create a custom-made path that is meaningful to you and realistic for you to practice new ways of being. 

HOCI and DARTT

Whether I am working with individuals, parents and child(ren)/adolescent, or couples, my approach is largely influenced by the Healing Our Core Issues (HOCI) Model and Developmental and Relational Trauma Therapy (DARTT).  The HOCI model informs us about 6 core issues at play when we feel emotionally charged or shut down or in conflict within ourselves or with others.  HOCI utilizes DARTT (Developmental and Relational Trauma Therapy) to move these core issues into balance, identify our authenticity, and take action which reflects our true nature, becoming relational in our relationships – with our self and with others.  DARTT notices details from when you were a child.  Moments during childhood leave an imprint on your nervous system which impacts how we think, feel, and behave today.   DARTT enlivens a new response within us.  DARTT is an eclectic and full spectrum approach.  It utilizes many approaches such as mindfulness, attachment theory, somatic awareness and neurobiology.

Healing Our Core Issues and Developmental and Relational Trauma Therapy is based upon the work of Pia Mellody who is the author of Facing Codependence and The Intimacy Factor.  Please listen to this interview with Pia Mellody herself in which she identifies the nature of a child (starting at minute 9:14): inherent worth, imperfection, vulnerability, having needs and wants, spontaneity and openness energy:

Jan Bergstrom, one of the co-founders with Rick Butts, PhD, of the HOCI Institute for training mental health therapists in this model and DARTT, wrote a very helpful book about this model called “Gifts from a Challenging Childhood: Creating a Practice for Becoming Your Healthiest Self.“

Here are links to the Trauma Research Foundation, Healing Trauma Network and Healing Our Core Issues Institute for more information:

https://www.traumaresearchfoundation.org/

https://www.healingtraumanetwork.net

https://www.healingourcoreissuesinstitute.com

In addition to DARTT which looks at your childhood (ages 0-22), I use a Lifetime Timeline on a poster board which covers different categories over your lifetime such as education, work, extracurricular activities, drug and alcohol use, social events, romantic interests, etc.  I will work on this with you in session or you can take the poster board home that I will supply you.

EMDR

At times I use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) or bilateral stimulation to relieve physical and emotional symptoms related to a specific negative event you experienced, such as a car accident, being harmed emotionally or physically, or when someone you love is harmed.  Our brain knows what it needs to do to heal when the right support is provided.  Bilateral stimulation through back and forth eye movement, alternating tappers being held in each of your hands, and/or alternating beeps sounding over earphones gives the brain movement between the right and left hemisphere to allow your memories of negative events to be noticed and processed without shutting down or becoming overly dysregulated.  EMDR can also be helpful for reducing anxiety about a future event such as athletic or academic performance.  EMDR is especially helpful because the healing can occur without having to talk about details of painful memories of the event.  

Please see the short video below which I share with clients interested in learning more about EMDR.

DBT

I am DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) Trained.  Upon request, I can provide psychoeducation and homework to practice DBT Skills and track inner states and behaviors.  The four pillars of DBT are mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.  These are also similar principles of DARTT.

Play Therapy

With kids, we play!  Play Therapy help kids feel more confident and process events that may be difficult to talk about.  I have a play space for kids to move around and explore.  Family therapy is often important during therapy with children, and I will often – but not always – encourage both child or adolescent and parent to participate in family sessions.

Neurofeedback or Neurotherapy

Neurofeedback or Neurotherapy is available upon request.  Please consider this add-on approach to assist in your healing. Please inquire about this wonderful approach to assist in healing.

Neurofeedback offers a safe, effective approach to optimize your brain to feel better, think better and perform better in all areas of life.  A personalized protocol will be developed to provide EEG feedback (via auditory and visual feedback) to train your brain to move out of the states creating symptoms and into the states associated with your goals. We are training your brain not your mind; you simply sit, listen and watch your custom EEG protocol.  Whether you decide to add neurofeedback or do as a stand alone training, neurofeedback has been found to achieve lasting and successful intervention in modifying and helping to resolve symptoms associated with:

• seizure disorders
• attention, concentration, and memory problems
• traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• chronic pain
• autistic-spectrum disorders
• depression
• anxiety
• headache/migraine
• sleep problems
• addiction
• ADHD

Neurofeedback has also been used to help maximize the performance of athletes, artists and executives.

Here is a link to learn more about What is Neurofeedback?

https://isnr.org/what-is-neurofeedback

Spiritual Approach

My approach does focus on spiritual practice. What comes from this work is a deeper knowing of yourself and how to effectively take care of yourself, protect yourself, and relate with others in such a way which facilitates compassion, kindness, love and relationship with God (higher power). If you have a spiritual practice, this connection with faith will grow through the practice that the HOCI model offers.