How We Work
Overview of our Practice
We have found that the best way to support change in people is to use the therapeutic relationship and an individualized approach using different therapeutic technics to meet the needs of each person we work with.
Some of the therapeutic modalities we use are listed below.
Psychodynamic and Attachment-Focused Therapy
Our early relationships with our caregivers shape our personalities, who we are, and how we relate with others. This is because we have an innate need to connect with our caregivers and to feel safe and secure with them (essentially to form an attachment). When there is a disruption in this ability to feel safe and secure in our family relationships as a child, it can impact our ability to regulate ourselves and our ability to be in relationships with others as an adult. Often these patterns of relating, the emotions that we feel, and the thoughts that we have happen outside of our conscious awareness. It is important to explore the connections between childhood relationships and adult relationships—how the past may influence the present often without being aware of it consciously. It is important to gain an awareness of what is happening in the present and how it is related to the past so that change can occur.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-awareness approach to trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine, a biophysicist and psychologist. Taught and practiced around the world, SE is based on the belief that human beings have an innate ability to overcome the effects of trauma. SE therapy restores regulation, enabling people to recover a sense of being whole, alive, and connected to self and others.
What does an SE session look like? The answer is as varied as individual clients and therapists. SE is not a rigid protocol but rather a framework for understanding how people respond to threat and how that threat response is stored in the body. It involves a method of learning to track one’s bodily sensations and apply self-regulation skills while processing traumatic experiences. This allows the discharge of traumatic energy that has been stored in the nervous system and at the same time work to expand one’s capacity for affect containment and self-regulation. Through building the interconnections between one’s sensations, feelings, thoughts, and meaning system one can understand the full spectrum of trauma’s effect and transform them.
SE can help you integrate traumatic experiences without reliving them or becoming overwhelmed. Through this process, you can increase your capacity to cope with stress and challenge while staying present.
To learn more about Somatic Experiencing®, click here.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), is a therapeutic modality that helps relieve distress associated with traumatic memories.
It utilizes bilateral stimulation—alternating stimulus to left and right sides of the body—through eye movement, tapping or holding small "tappers" that vibrate on alternating sides. The goal of EMDR is to transform traumatic memories into more neutral autobiographical memories—so that you can hold awareness of an experience without reliving it.
Attachment-focused EMDR (AF-EMDR) is client-centered and emphasizes a reparative therapeutic relationship using a combination of
(1) Resource Tapping™ (Parnell, 2008) to strengthen clients and repair developmental deficits,
(2) EMDR to process traumas, and
(3) talk therapy to help integrate the information from EMDR sessions and to provide the healing derived from therapist-client interactions.
Learn more at https://parnellemdr.com/
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), is a kind of therapy that helps clients understand the link between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is focused in the present and not in the past. When we understand and notice our thoughts and the ways we talk to ourselves, we can begin to change the way we feel and behave. CBT can be very helpful with anxiety and depression. We incorporate CBT techniques into our work when it seems that it would be helpful.
Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET)
Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET) was designed for individuals who are experiencing primary chronic pain (also called, centralized pain or neural pathway pain).
EAET integrates elements from pain neuroscience education, cognitive-behavioral therapy, brief psychodynamic psychotherapy, and experiential therapies to offer a unique approach that targets psychological and behavioral factors that may be driving pain.
During a course of EAET, you will learn about the connection between pain, stress, and emotions, and the central role of the brain in producing pain.
An important component of the treatment also involves identifying and confronting previously avoided emotional experiences, and learning to fully experience your emotions, and to express them to others in ways that may benefit your relationships.