Life and Light Counseling

Psychotherapeutic modalities i am trained in

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders. The American Psychiatric Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs/Dept. of Defense, The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the World Health Organization among many other national and international organizations recognize EMDR therapy as an effective treatment.

Brainspotting: is a powerful, focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment, enhanced with Biolateral sound, which is deep, direct, and powerful yet focused and containing.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): focuses on exploring relationships among a person's thoughts, feelings and behaviors. During CBT a therapist will actively work with a person to uncover unhealthy patterns of thought and how they may be causing self-destructive behaviors and beliefs.

By addressing these patterns, the person and therapist can work together to develop constructive ways of thinking that will produce healthier behaviors and beliefs. For instance, CBT can help someone replace thoughts that lead to low self-esteem ("I can't do anything right") with positive expectations ("I can do this most of the time, based on my prior experiences").

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT): was originally developed to treat chronically suicidal individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Over time, DBT has been adapted to treat people with multiple different mental illnesses, but most people who are treated with DBT have BPD as a primary diagnosis.

DBT is heavily based on CBT with one big exception: it emphasizes validation, or accepting uncomfortable thoughts, feelings and behaviors instead of struggling with them. By having an individual come to terms with the troubling thoughts, emotions or behaviors that they struggle with, change no longer appears impossible and they can work with their therapist to create a gradual plan for recovery.

Hypnotherapy: is the practice of psychotherapy with a client who is in the hypnotic altered state of consciousness. Hypnotherapy is a powerful way to access the source of distress, like depression and anxiety, and for people to reconnect with dissociated emotions and disowned parts of themselves. Hypnotherapy helps therapists and client get closer to the source of a client’s issues by opening the doorway to their subconscious mind. Heart Centered Hypnotherapy is a highly effective treatment model that addresses body, mind, and spirit which supports the client move down their own profoundly exciting road to self-discovery.

Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): EFT is a very effective way of clearing out feelings, and when an unwanted feeling is gone, the limiting beliefs that the client held are released. New, more positive beliefs about themselves can emerge. EFT integrates the Chinese meridians system into therapy by tapping on meridian points with your fingertips. 

Mindfulness: simply put mindfulness is "present moment awareness without judgement" (Kabat-Zinn). Meditation is perhaps is most synonymous with developing mindfulness, however that is not the only way. When we focus our attention at an object or sensation(s) without judgement, it is a mindful moment because we are in the here and now, just being with that experience. Mindfulness is important to awareness of the nature of the problem or the object of our attention. When we are aware of what is happening to us,  it gives us choice to do something about it or let it be. 

Sensorymotor Psychotherapy (SP):  is a complete therapeutic modality for trauma and attachment issues. SP welcomes the body as an integral source of information which can guide resourcing and the accessing and processing of challenging, traumatic, and developmental experience. SP is a holistic approach that includes somatic, emotional, and cognitive processing and integration. SP enables clients to discover and change habitual physical and psychological patterns that impede optimal functioning and well-being. SP is helpful in working with dysregulated activation and other effects of trauma, as well as the limiting belief systems of developmental issues. SP helps clients cultivate their strengths, while providing enough challenge to stimulate growth, long lasting change, and well-being.

Parts work therapy: is based on the idea that our personality is comprised of a number of parts that develop over time and stay with us. These parts may be representative of our family of origin, or younger parts of ourselves (“inner child”). Unresolved developmental trauma is held by these parts.  Parts-work therapy can help resolve internal conflicts between parts, bring greater awareness, self-compassion and integration.










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