Comfort. Safety. Acceptance.
I invite you to think about your biggest challenge or deepest pain. Now think about the way you respond to those thoughts. Notice the judgment, self-criticism, or shame that shows up. Now consider how you would respond if you heard about the same struggle from a friend, child or sibling. The likelihood is that your response would be different: more compassionate and more accepting. This way of treating ourselves is a learned survival strategy—and just as it was learned, long ago, it can also be unlearned.
I work with each client using an individualized approach aimed at understanding the uniqueness of their circumstances and who they are. I am currently in training in an approach called Somatic Experiencing®, a body-based trauma therapy that uses clinical tools to help clients move through survival responses (fight, flight, or freeze) and release the energy these responses consume.
In our sessions, we will learn to recognize the way our bodies tend to respond to threat, and how to deactivate these responses in order to enable more effective problem-solving and fulfilling relationships. Ultimately, using a Somatic Experiencing® approach combined with more traditional psychotherapy, my clients experience a renewed sense of comfort and a tolerance, and capacity for managing, the next difficult experience or event.
We spend a tremendous amount of energy to push down our pain. Once it is unlocked, we can use this energy for living.