Finding the right therapist can be overwhelming. It takes some knowledge to decipher what philosophy and “techniques” any given therapist might use. And then, of course, you have to meet the therapist, and see if there is enough initial rapport to begin working together. Here are some brief descriptions of the primary modalities I use while working with clients. I don’t use these techniques separately, in fact they all have a lot of cross over, but they are easier to describe individually. 

 

SOMATICS 

 

You may have heard this term before: Somatics. It is rooted in the Latin: Soma, which translates to “body.” The term is used by a lot of different types of practitioners; from massage therapists, to yoga instructors, to psychoanalysts. It is a shorthand description for a very broad field of work. What all these practitioners have in common is that they see the physical and emotional life as interconnected. Some of us, including myself, would expand upon this to say that we are also interconnected with each other and the world around us. My somatic approach is based in dance-movement therapy, parent-infant psychology (the stuff that sticks with us into our adult connections), and somatic trauma treatment (see below). How this work plays out can look really different depending on a client’s needs. For some people it will be quite subtle; alongside what seems like standard talk therapy, I will track the client’s emotional states through their physical cues along with their words. I will also watch what’s happening in my own body as we sit together. For others; we will do a lot of exploration around how the client feels in their body: pleasure, discomfort, and indifferent. We will investigate how the client can best care for and regulate these feeling-sensation states. Other clients will benefit from moving around the room in either or both creative expressions and structured forms, in order to better know themselves as well as for me to better understand them. 

 

RELATIONAL 

 

This might sound like couples’ counseling, but it goes far beyond that. This form of therapy comes out of Feminist and Humanist philosophies. The belief is that we are not separate. We cannot heal ourselves without relationships that support that healing. Because others lack skill or awareness, or because we lose someone through death, mental illness, or addiction; many of us begin to believe that we will only find a very limited understanding, stability, and closeness with others. Relational therapy looks at both our fearful beliefs and our honest experiences of ourselves in relation to others. In it, the therapist understands that they are a real person with a real impact on clients. Sometimes, this impact is clearly supportive, and other times the therapist is imperfect and needs to humbly make repairs with the client. Relational therapy sees the therapist/client relationship as a place for the client to both practice and develop new ways of being with another. 

 

TRAUMA TREATMENT

 

A lot of people are talking about trauma these days. It can be hard to tell what’s a pop-phrase and what’s a serious statement. The truth is that what is traumatic can vary from person to person. It all depends on the state we are in when certain events (individual or ongoing) happen. Trauma is “the perceived threat of death.” Sometimes we experience something traumatic and our life is actually being threatened. Other times it only feels as if our lives are threatened; a good example of this is when children are dependent on neglectful and/or abusive caregivers. Regardless of whether we actually might die or not, the impact is just as intense. Trauma lands in both our psyches and our bodies, and if it isn’t cared for immediately, it can start to build a residue, making more and more of life feel traumatic. In treating trauma, I look at the individual. Some people need to tell the story of their trauma and others feel more disregulated by talking about it. Many people can’t name what they experienced as trauma but are distressed at the trauma responses they carry, hypervigilance and/or dissociation being two examples. I often start by helping clients gain adequate resources to process their trauma. Resources can be tangible material things, as well as somatic skills, relational support systems, and spiritual connection. With these resources, we work towards tracking the client’s trauma responses and overlapping belief systems. Later we work on seeing how the client coped while triggered. Then we work on honoring old coping skills, and seeing where new ones may be developed. Of course, this process can take different amounts of time for different people, various traumatic experiences can be interconnected, and the process is rarely linear.

 

ATTACHMENT

 

If you have a mindfulness practice, you might think of “attachment” as a thing that bogs us down. That’s not the type of attachment I’m talking about here. I’m talking about bonding, and the very early templates that are formed for us around bonding with our parents and/or caretakers. Infants must attach to whoever takes care of them, regardless of whether or not parents/caretakers are doing a horrible, decent, or terrific job at it. These young experiences shape our unconscious and sometimes conscious beliefs about ourselves, and what we expect from others. Unintentionally, we can end up recreating the very same hurts we want to avoid.  But there is hope. Our brains, our nervous systems, and our styles of connection can grow and shift. 

 

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

 

In supporting parents and in helping adult clients understand their early experiences, I provide psycho-education on child development. I frame the healthy full development of children by looking at the uniqueness of each child, the stressors and resource impacting their lives, and the connections that they have with their primary caregivers. 

 

ON WORKING ACROSS DIFFERENCE

 

When we come together to do this work, we are inherently different people. Some of that difference is overtly noticeable and some of it is discovered over time. In some places we will also feel quite similar. I invite frank, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations on difference, power, and privilege. In regards to racism, I am a white gender non-conforming queer who aims to bring both humility and passion to working on issues of white supremacy, de-centering whiteness, settler colonialism, racial identity, and racism. I like working with people of all racial identities. I understand that these issues may not be at the forefront for some people of color who seek therapy. I also see that many white clients may not question how whiteness is connected to what brings them into therapy, and that part of my job is helping integrate this understanding. I see that working across race has the potential to be healing and/or reaffirming of ongoing experiences of racism. If this is something you have questions about, I invite you to contact me.

​