We’re each a beautifully complex story …

TL;DR – Attachment is the human biological need to bond with others.

Experiences with our caregivers creates a blueprint that informs the sense of safety and security you bring to adult relationships, or lack thereof.

Attachment has become mainstream and accessible with many books, websites, trainings, and social media sharing information about attachment styles. But why is it important? Because our earliest experiences (12-18 months old, all proverbial and implicit memories – meaning you don’t consciously remember them) dictate how well, or not so well, we do intimate relationships. It’s the reactions we go to under stress. Bringing these responses to conscious awareness allows us the opportunity to influence and change them. Left unaddressed, there insecurities and reactions that have been carried through life can wreak havoc on one’s intimate relationships if they are not resolved.

Brainspotting is a tool used to help clients work with trauma, negative emotions, and somatic and emotionally based conditions.  In other words, if you have an issue, brainspotting can help.  Brainspotting is a way to help you identify, process and release patterns that are not working for you.  When you can release these patterns, a new flexibility is possible and you’re less likely to be triggered by concerns in your daily life.  Brainspotting is done with me, your therapist, in our session(s) together.  An issue you want to work with is identified and we go from there.  Brainspotting uses a pointer to hold your gaze, bilateral sound (headphones with sounds that alternate), and our relationship to talk through what is happening for you.

You can read more about brainspotting here:  Elephant Journal, Good Therapy and David Grand, PhD is the creator of brainspotting.

Somatic Work: This is body-based psychotherapy. We now know talk therapy is not enough and that experiences are felt in the body, and can get stuck in the body. Somatic work helps the body renegotiate events on a body-based level so you can experience relief/nervous system regulation. Past events can get trapped in the body and play themselves out through intrusive images, thoughts, tension, unhealthy relationships and states like sadness, anxiety, and depression.

TL;DR – “The moment-to-moment ability to manage one’s energy, alertness, and readiness to engage.” – PACT website
In other words, your nervous system informs you about how your body feels in any given moment. A related term is one’s window of tolerance. This is the capacity, range or zone of arousal in which you are able to function most effectively. You usually feel calm, cool, collected, creative and resourced when you’re within your window of tolerance. Learning how to regulate your nervous system, and how to push your edges to grow your window of tolerance, will help your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual body feel better.

“TLDR: Our brains are wired for connection with others. We are inherently interdependent beings, not the overly individualistic beings American culture promotes and values. To learn more, keep reading.

“Relational neuroscience is an integrated field of study of what brains do in relationship.

Also known as IPNB (Interpersonal Neurobiology), relational neuroscience is an interdisciplinary study of how brains behave in relationship. The field brings together Psychology, Attachment Research, Cognitive and Social Neuroscience and Complexity Theory to create a synthesized understanding of self and other. Dr. Daniel Siegel is the primary figure in this field.

As people learn about themselves with resonance and understanding, they are freed to find their own way to healing and the natural expression of who they were born to be.” – Sarah Peyton

I believe all of us humans experience trauma, some much more than others. You may experience trauma when you live through a stressful, frightening and/or distressing event. See how broad this is? That’s why I think all of us experience trauma. Trauma work in my practice means we take a somatic approach to the trauma(s) you’ve experienced. The goal of trauma work is not that a memory or experience will be forgotten, but when you recall the memory, it will feel less distressing to your mind and body. You will learn tools of nervous system regulation to help move the trauma through your body and release it, thus feeling more regulated/calm.

This is the real heart and soul of therapy and human relationships, in my opinion. I love Dan Siegel’s acronym, PART, to help understand the essence of this work:

Presence: Being present with the other with an open mind.
Attunement: Focusing on the other’s emotional landscape rather than just on the behavior.
Resonance: Allow ourselves to be impacted by the other’s experience and giving the other the experience of “feeling felt”.
Trust: When we respond to the other with Presence, Attunement, and Resonance, this activates the social engagement system which leads to receptivity and openness.
By doing these together, my hope is you feel connected with me, as your therapist, and safe enough in our sessions together to say and do anything, so we can work with what is really happening for you. From there, you can consciously choose what to keep, and what you’d like to shift, change and release.

“This is a therapeutic lens that assumes that each of us has many different parts to our minds and psyches. Each of these parts (or subpersonalities) has unique needs, wants, and beliefs and may be consciously or unconsciously helping or harming us as we move through our days encountering different situations, triggers, and scenarios.
By bringing our awareness to these many different parts within us – giving each a voice, learning what each needs, wants, and fears, and understanding when, how, and why each gets triggered – we are then more able to lovingly integrate (but not eliminate) the many aspects within us to create more choice, expand our capacity to creatively problem-solve, and to give us a greater sense of wholeness and aliveness in our daily lives.” – Annie Wright, LMFT

We’ll bring in energy work, intuitive and spiritual practices to help support your therapy journey. This includes tools of grounding, releasing, visualizations and energetic boundary setting.

This is a creative and intuitive collage process. We sit with old magazines, scissors, glue and paper to piece it all together. We may use collage during a session to allow thoughts and messages, known and unknown, to surface from your conscious and unconscious mind.