How can therapy help me?
Participating in therapy will provide you many benefits. I can provide you support, problem-solving skills, and enhanced coping strategies to overcome issues such as depression, anxiety, addiction, obesity, relationship troubles, unresolved childhood issues, grief, stress management, body image issues and creative blocks. I can also be a tremendous asset to managing personal growth, interpersonal relationships, family concerns, marriage issues, and the hassles of daily life. Also, therapy can provide a fresh perspective on a difficult problem or point you in the direction of a solution. Inpatient vs. outpatient rehabilitation is an important consideration for addiction treatment. I can help you assess your situation and make a decision. Some of the benefits available to you from therapy include:
- Attain a better understanding of yourself, your goals and values
- Develop skills for improving your relationships
- Find a balance between alcohol and drug use and abuse
- Overcome emotional overeating and obesity
- Learn to attain and maintain a sober but happy, joyous and free lifestyle
- Find resolution to the issues or concerns that led you to seek therapy
- Learn new ways to cope with stress and anxiety
- Manage anger, grief, depression, and other emotional pressures
- Improve communications and listening skills
- Change old behavior patterns and developing new ones
- Discover new ways to solve problems in your family or marriage
- Improve your self-esteem and boosting self-confidence
- Explore and resolve issues of sexual and gender identity
- Develop a spirituality that works for you
Do I really need therapy? I can usually handle my problems.
Everyone goes through challenging situations in life. You may have successfully navigated through other difficulties you’ve faced. But, there’s nothing wrong with seeking out extra support. In fact, there is no virtue to be found in going it alone. Therapy is for people who are mature enough to realize they can use and benefit from a helping hand. When you accept where you are in life and take responsibility, you can make the commitment to change things for the better by seeking therapy. Therapy provides long-lasting benefits and support. It gives you the tools to avoid triggers, re-direct damaging and self-defeating patterns, and overcome whatever challenges you face.
Why do people go to therapy and how do I know if it is right for me?
People have many different motivations for coming to therapy. You may be going through a major life transition (unemployment, divorce, new job, etc.), or perhaps you are not handling stressful circumstances well. You can benefit from assistance in managing a range issues such as low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, addictions, obesity, eating disorders, relationship problems, spiritual conflicts and creative blocks. Therapy can help provide you some much needed skills and encouragement to help to get you through these periods. You may be at a point where you are ready to learn more about yourself or want to be more effective with your goals in life. Whatever motivates you, I will become your special ally by helping you see yourself more clearly, define your values, resolve your inner conflicts, and help you create your ideal self and ideal life. Change can be scary, its true. But, it can be purposeful. You don’t need to go through it alone. You deserve more.
What is therapy like?
Because each person has different issues and goals for therapy, therapy will be different for each individual. In general, you can expect to discuss the current events happening in your life, your personal history relevant to your issues, and report progress (or any new insights gained) from the previous therapy session. Depending on your specific needs, therapy can be short-term for a specific issue, or longer-term to deal with more difficult patterns or your desire for more personal development. Either way, it is most common to schedule regular sessions (usually weekly). But, it can be more or less often as you choose.Your benefit from therapy depends upon your active participation in the process. The purpose of therapy is to help you bring what you learn in session back into your life. Therefore, beyond the work you do in therapy sessions, I may suggest some things you can do outside of therapy to support your process – such as reading a pertinent book, journaling on specific topics, noting particular behaviors, or taking action on your goals. In coming to therapy you are announcing that you are ready to make positive changes in your life.
What about medication vs. psychotherapy?
It is well established that the long-term solution to mental and emotional problems and the pain they cause cannot be solved solely by medication. Instead of just treating the symptom, therapy addresses the cause of your distress and the behavior patterns that curb your progress. You can best achieve sustainable growth and a greater sense of well-being with an integrative approach to wellness. Working with your medical doctor you can determine what’s best for you, and in some cases a combination of medication and therapy is the right course of action.
What is Rebirthing Breathwork
Rebirthing Breathwork is a specialized breathing technique that can access and dissipate unresolved stress retained in your body and outside of your cognitive awareness. It was brought to this country through the work of Leonard Orr. Once the technique is learned it can be used to eliminate stress and repressed feeling states from the body at any time. Typically learning the technique requires from five to ten facilitated one hour sessions. It got its name as “Rebirthing” since almost all practitioners ultimately have the experience of reliving the sensations of their birth trauma. If you open the link in a new browser window you will be taken to the site without leaving this website.
Do you take insurance, and how does that work?
You have mental health coverage through your insurance carrier. One of the changes mandated by the Affordable Care Act was to require parity between mental health coverage and medical coverage. To determine your mental health coverage benefits, the first thing you should do is call them. Check your coverage carefully and make sure you understand their answers. Some helpful questions you can ask them:
- What are my mental health benefits?
- What is the coverage amount per therapy session?
- How many therapy sessions does my plan cover?
- How much does my insurance pay for an out-of-network provider?
- Is approval required from my primary care physician?
Does what we talk about in therapy remain confidential?
Confidentiality is one of the most important components between a client and psychotherapist. Successful therapy requires a high degree of trust with highly sensitive subject matter that is usually not discussed anywhere but the therapist’s office. Every therapist should provide a written copy of their confidential disclosure agreement, and you can expect that what you discuss in session will not be shared with anyone. This is called “Informed Consent”. Sometimes, however, you may want your therapist to share information or give an update to someone on your healthcare team (your Physician, Naturopath, Attorney), but by law your therapist cannot release this information without obtaining your written permission.
However, state law and professional ethics require therapists to maintain confidentiality except for the following situations:
Suspected past or present abuse or neglect of children, adults, and elders may need to be reported to the authorities, including child protection and law enforcement, based on information provided by the client or collateral sources. Therapists are among those professionals that are mandatory reporters.
If the therapist has reason to suspect the client is seriously in danger of harming him/herself or has threatened to harm another person.
