My Approach
"As long as you are breathing there is more right with you than wrong with you, no matter what is wrong.”
– Jon Kabat-Zinn
General Approach
I work together with people in ways that can clarify difficulties they are facing, strengthen their sense of well-being, and empower them to make choices that feel right to them. This is in contrast to therapy that emphasizes making a diagnosis and prescribing a treatment for the person to follow.
Initially, my focus is on understanding the person's current challenges and patterns of difficulty, history of influential experiences, and desired changes. Over the course of meetings, my focus is on facilitating reflection and dialogue in ways that can 1) leave the person feeling heard and supported; 2) lead to fuller awareness and new understanding; 3) promote active steps through curiosity, creativity, and experimentation; and 4) strengthen their sense of effectiveness, authenticity, and connection.
Specific Perspectives
There are specific perspectives that I go to for guidance that include Acceptance-Based Behavior Therapy (ABBT), Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy (TLDP), and Self-Determination Theory (all described below). As an integrative therapist, I believe methods and ideas from different therapies can be employed in complementary ways that enhance outcomes, and allow me to adapt to individual needs and changes in concerns and goals. I am familiar with a range of orientations including humanistic, psychodynamic, narrative/post-modern, traditional cognitive-behavioral, and “3rd wave” behavioral therapies (ACT, DBT). I believe it's critical to have holistic and contextual perspectives that consider physiological and environmental factors such as physical health, chronic pain, substance use, sleep, chronic sources of stress, financial difficulty, disabilities, presence or absence of support in social environments, and harmful/stigmatizing environments.
Acceptance-Based Behavior Therapy (ABBT) offers a framework for understanding and improving specific patterns in how we relate to ourselves and inner experiences. One of the key ideas within ABBT is that we are better off when we can reflect on difficult thoughts and feelings with non-judgment and a desire to understand the nature of what we’re thinking and feeling. Working from this perspective, we can gain greater awareness and understanding that puts us in a position to be more 1) compassionate with ourselves; 2) intentional in making choices that are inline with important values; 3) and able to limit the creation of problems that can result from efforts to avoid, escape, or change difficult thoughts and emotions.
Complimenting ABBT's intra-personal focus, Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy (TLDP) offers a framework for understanding and improving specific patterns in our relationships with others. A key idea within TLDP is that we bring beliefs and expectations from our previous history to our present relationships in ways that affect how we interpret and respond to others. These ways of responding often have unintended consequences that limit our relationships and perpetuate patterns that are cyclical in nature. For example, we may have a core belief that we are not worthy of loving connection, perceive threats of rejection and abandonment, avoid close relationships and disclosing our true selves, have limited social connectedness, and reinforce the belief that we are not worthy of connection. Through a process of reflecting on the history of our social experiences and gaining understanding, we are more able to communicate in ways that strengthen intimacy, boundaries, trust, and support.
A basic idea of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is that we all have basic psychological needs, and the extent to which those needs are met affects our wellbeing, functioning, and growth. SDT sheds light on what these needs are and the internal and external things that support or thwart those needs being met. SDT is a perspective well established by research and informs much of how I think about mental health and how therapy can be most helpful. This includes specific ways therapy can either support or hinder positive change.
Resources to Learn More
Acceptance Based Behavior Therapy (ABBT)
Series of ABBT self-help articles
ABBT self-help books (free audio version with Audible account)
Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy (TLDP)
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
Presentation on what makes us happy from the perspective of SDT