During my final year of graduate school, we explored our view of therapy and our hopes/goals for our sessions with our clients. I enjoy viewing the past and seeing how it has shifted or changed in my present. I wrote this paper three years ago and there is more I would add today, but much of it remains true for me.
February 2017:
In the world of therapy, I take an integrative therapy approach with my clients as I believe there is not just one way to do therapy. Each client I encounter is a unique individual and I base my therapy approach on what is being presented by my clients and work with them towards healing. The therapy relationship is a two-person dyad that requires both myself and my clients to be present in each session, to choose to work towards healing and to explore how our relationship together is impacting each other and connecting to relationships outside the therapy space. My hope is to create a space that is safe and trusted for my clients to bring all their selves and feelings to be explored together.
As a therapist, I believe feelings and behaviors play an important role in our work. While I hope to look at the past with you, I also will look at the present moment experience of what is being created between the two of us. I will help us see together the different ways we are processing the content you bring to our sessions and see where the past is connecting with the present. Along with feelings and behaviors, I will also be interested in hearing the story of your life. We will explore the past to connect it to the present and see where difficult parts of your story are re-appearing in your present and hopefully create new ways to approach your present story and re-author these experiences.
From looking at your story, I hope that we will also be able to expand your self-awareness and understanding of who you are in order to assist you in understanding unresolved conflicts from your story or reduce unwanted patterns experienced in your current relationships. This entails examining your unconscious and how this may be impacting your thinking and behaviors. While this work can be done in a short-term experience, I believe the more time we can spend together exploring your story the more work that will be done towards achieving the goals you have set for yourself.
How do you view therapy? What approach are you wanting your therapist to bring into the room?
Curious if we are a good fit? Contact me today and let's see!