Counseling, Coaching, and Spiritual Direction Services

It’s never too late to revise…

…to start writing a better story for your life…

…to be what you might have been.

 

 

Counseling

Providing individual, couples, and family counseling.

Areas of treatment include:

• Therapy for Depression and Anxiety
• Premarital Therapy
• Couples Counseling
• Sexual and Other Addictions Therapy
• Abuse and Trauma Therapy Using EMDR
• Family Counseling
• Spiritual Abuse Counseling

I work with people experiencing a wide range of emotional, relational, and behavioral issues providing services that span from therapy for depression and grief counseling to couples counseling, trauma therapy, and beyond. In a comfortable and supportive atmosphere, I offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each of my clients’ individual needs to help attain the personal growth they’re striving for.

 

Spiritually sensitive psychotherapy

I am trained in mental health care and diagnosis as well as family systems therapy. I am also trained in spiritual care. As a result, I have a holistic view of an individual, couple, or family. The emotional life, relational life, thought life, spiritual life, and experiences of the body are all entwined. They can be distinguished but they cannot be separated. The internal world has an effect on the body. And the experiences of the body have an effect on the internal world. Psychology and spirituality are both significant elements of the internal world. My view of therapy and counseling, therefore, might be termed Soul Care, or care for the whole person.

Research has shown that “incorporating spiritual perspectives in secular treatments has been found to improve the outcomes for religiously oriented clients” (William R. Miller and Carl E. Thoresen, Integrating Spirituality into Treatment, p. 14). More than 80% of Americans believe in God. Perhaps you are one of them. But did you know that the most recent large-scale survey of psychologists found only about a third describe their approach to life as religiously grounded (Delaney, Miller & Bisonó, 2007, replicating Bergin & Jensen, 1990)? I seek to provide care that better reflects the values of my clients and that approaches their questions of emotional and spiritual issues in a holistic way. And if you don’t hold any particular faith, I’m also honored to help you work toward the goals that are important to you.

 

Elements that are important in counseling

We humans are amazingly complex and it’s impossible to set up any type of cookie-cutter approach that could work for everyone. But there are a number of common elements that can have an impact on the outcome of therapy:

• The person of the therapist: research shows that the single greatest contributor to the outcome of your therapy experience across therapy approaches is the person of the therapist. This refers not to techniques but to the qualities of empathy, genuineness, and care the therapist brings into the room.
• The quality of the therapeutic relationship: I seek to establish a therapeutic relationship that is caring, respectful, collaborative, and helpful. The healthy therapeutic relationship is itself healing.
• Spiritual awareness and sensitivity of the therapist: As noted above, integrating spiritual elements into therapy improves the outcomes for clients who are religiously oriented. For those who aren’t, there’s no pressure.
• The person of the client: Some people are ready for therapy. Some are less so. How do you know if you’re ready for therapy? If you’re motivated enough to get started, then you’re ready.
• Therapeutic techniques: One of the smallest contributors to helping you as a client is specific techniques. Are techniques useful? Sure. But don’t look for a magic wand (technique) that will make everything better.

 

Treatment for people living with all forms of trauma

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an innovative and comprehensive treatment for PTSD and a variety of related mental health conditions. For more detailed information about EMDR, please visit www.emdr.org. There, you will find information about what EMDR is and research regarding EMDR effectiveness. I also use Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. The IFS approach helps heal the wounds and reactive self-protections that have resulted from trauma experiences. Healing doesn’t make it as if the trauma never happened – it means getting to a place where it doesn’t control you anymore.

 

Coaching

Life and executive coaching involves working in collaboration to realistically assess where clients are as well as their perceptions about circumstances, work, others in life, and even themselves. I work together with my clients to help them set goals that are realistic for them as a person and their individual needs and to implement relevant and realistic actions to meet those goals. Using my training in psychotherapy, I help clients identify internal blocks that may be preventing them from attaining the goals they’ve set for themselves and I use therapeutic tools to help them overcome those blocks and enhance their performance in those areas. Finally, I help them create a learning environment of reflecting on their activity and providing feedback to others.

I use the CoachU model of coaching and have taught coaching in South America. I also use IFS and EMDR, which includes a performance enhancement protocol that can help clients from athletes to musicians and students to executives increase their effectiveness and ability to perform to their full potential.

 

Spiritual Direction

Spiritual Direction brings a distinct focus to one’s relationship with God. Rather than being a directive instructor, I engage with my clients in their spiritual formation as a sacred companion helping them listen to God, trust Him, and surrender to His direction for them. Being trained in psychotherapy, however, I provide a unique, psychologically sensitive form of Spiritual Direction. Because I am able to help identify and heal emotional and relational blocks that may be affecting your spiritual life, the care I provide might be more appropriately termed “Soul Care,” or care for the whole person.

My training in spiritual formation and direction includes theological areas, areas of Christian spiritual practice, as well as providing Spiritual Direction.