Psychotherapy can take many routes to help life feel better.
My approach involves working with relationships – whether it’s a relationship between two people or the inner dynamics within a person.
Life’s challenges and our own nervous systems move like an ever-changing kaleidoscope, leaving us with a complicated mixture of feelings. It’s understandable how we can fall into a default of reacting to things. And yet when we are able to take a step back and sort things out with someone we trust, things lighten and feel clearer and our sense of self strengthens. Sometimes things get stuck in how we are relating to aspects of ourselves or in relationships, and involving a therapist can offer a fresh perspective.
In my work, I strive to increasingly understand the issues you are bringing to therapy, both how things are affecting you, and how you may be affecting others.
I use the tools I have found most helpful in improving relationships, including user-friendly handouts for clients:
- Relationship and attachment theories
- John Gottman’s research on couples and conflict
- Affect theory, which explains how feelings work, with special emphasis on shame
- John Gottman’s research on couples and conflict
- Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, which explains the ‘operating instructions’ and the importance of relationships in regulating our autonomic nervous system.
- The music of Bruce Springsteen