Counseling Tools
I use a range of counseling tools in my practice.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
CBT was created by Aaron Beck in the 1960’s. It’s a foundational counseling approach that teaches you how to identify the nature of your automatic thoughts habits and become aware to how these patterns impact .your emotions and decisions These thought patterns can be changed, leading to less disruptive emotional reactions and more mindful choices. With practice and repetition, CBT tools help you to step in and act as your own therapist.
Polyvagal Theory
Dr. Stephen Porges brought light to this theory in the mid 1990’s and in 2018, Deb Dana bridged his discoveries into the world of mental health and healing. The Polyvagal Theory states that the body’s nervous system is constantly sending signals of safety or alarm. We tend to habitually overreact , misread, or ignore these cues. With this theory, you learn how to sense into your body and listen to your body’s messages with care, curiosity, and clarity. You will learn how to listen and effectively respond to your body’s cues of safety and danger without amplifying or suppressing. We do this by sensing into the body, tuning into its signals, and understanding the nature of the central nervous system’s 3 zones: Dorsal Vagal, Sympathetic, and Ventral Vagal.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dr. Marsha Linehan brought DBT onto the scene in the late 1980’s. DBT helps you to find the middle ground in life rather than gravitating toward extremes. DBT has 3 components: affect regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Each component is packed with useful skills that help you find and walk “the middle path” of life, helping you to feel better about yourself and your relationships.
Internal Family Systems
Richard Schwartz developed IFS in the 1980’s. The two main ideas with IFS are Systems Theory and Buddhist philosophy of being a nonjudgmental witness. Schwartz says each person has various aspects to them, or Parts, and these Parts work together in various ways to try their best to keep the Self (the authentic you) safe and able to function in life. While the Parts are very important and serve a benevolent purpose, they can become problematic if they start running the show and calling all the shots. IFS helps the Self to befriend all the Parts, to witness them nonjudgmentally, exploring their various roles with care and curiosity, thanking them for their hard work, listening to their needs, and eventually unburdening them so your authentic Self can be in the driver’s seat again, leading with your heart, wisdom, and values.
Mindfulness Meditation
From ancient times, and found in all world religions, mindfulness meditation offers practices which help you feel more present, come into the “here and now”, engage your senses more fully, increase self-compassion, and tune your focus. Mindfulness meditation can be practiced formally, such as in a “sitting practice”, guided meditation, walking meditation, body scan, or breathing exercises. It can also be practiced informally in a myriad of ways, woven into daily living by tuning into your felt-sense in any given moment, offering relief from depression and anxiety.
Art Therapy
Art has taken a central role in humanity’s efforts to make sense of life, process complexity, and tell one’s story. While art has been around since the beginning, Adrian Hill coined the term “art therapy” in the 1940’s. He turned to art to help him cope with medical issues. About this same time, Margaret Naumburg researched art’s ability to elicit emotion, validate emotion, and heal emotional pain. Art Therapy has since grown into a recognized mental health field. You can paint, draw, weave, sculpt, doodle, collage, sew, carve, and sketch your emotions and thoughts, which often brings new insights and connections beyond talk therapy. No art skills needed; no judgments and no expectations.