- Adults & Children
- ADHD
- Anxiety and Depression
- Menopause
- Transitions
- Grief & Loss
- Childhood Trauma
- Eating Disorders
- Relationship & Work Stress
- Parent Consultations
- Support for Mental Health Providers
- Emotional Support for partners of those on the Spectrum
- I do not work with personality disorders, active domestic violence, alcohol or drug addiction, or anyone involved with the Legal System.
People seek therapy when life becomes more difficult than joyfully. Worry, sleepless nights, irritability, unreasonable expectations and troubled relationships might bring someone in for help. Sometimes old wounds arise and demand to be addressed. We can find ourselves worn out from our roles and want to find a new way of doing things. For others it’s that Critical Inner Voice that has beaten them down for so long they find themselves depressed and feeling worthless. Childhood Trauma can surface when the psyche is ready to deal with the pain hidden away. It’s not easy work, to feel our feelings and to speak truth of the past, but it is crucial for wellness. The past abuses do not have to control and define who you are now. Healing is there for the asking.
WORKING WITH CHILDREN
As a Child Mental Health Specialist, I have years of experience working with kids of all ages. Currently my focus is on kids age 10 and younger. They’re like emotional sponges. Without thought or intention children absorb the emotional environment in which they find themselves. Depending on their ages, children communicate non-verbally through their play and behavior. It is in allowing the child to lead the play, tracking behavior, reflecting on feelings and setting limits that I read a child’s emotional make-up and struggles. I use Play Therapy and art to make a connection of trust with your child. I can make suggestions and explain what I see, but it is ultimately the parents who decide what is best for their child. I often suggest reading material for additional information and support. I look forward to getting to know you and your child. back to the top
ANXIETY & DEPRESSION
Many of the people I see struggle with feeling anxious and/or depressed. Once clients begin noticing how they talk to themselves and share it with me, we can see messages about not being good enough, not feeling worthy and that they are treating themselves like their worst enemy instead of their own best friend. My goal is to teach people the importance of self-talk, to evaluate if the statements carry truth or old beliefs that are harmful. I can guide my clients to making the changes they need to make in order to become their own best friend.
Bulimia and compulsive over-eating are complex and dangerous personal struggles. I have worked with people both in-patient and on an out-patient basis. I believe that these disorders develop as a response to overwhelming emotional pain. I believe that eating disorders are not really about food. They are about feelings. Feelings so painful and scary from abuse, neglect, a host of boundary violations and/or growing up in a chaotic environment that they get pushed down and out of awareness. Eating disorders can manifest as a way to have some control over something, a way to drowned out feelings and a way to escape into another realm. By using an intuitive and empathic approach, I can show you how your eating disorder serves you, where it has come from and what it is trying to say. With strong support and guidance, I will help you to learn the language of emotions and be with you as you begin to live life without the destruction an eating disorder creates. Recover is not an easy process but healing is the only way out of the nightmare of living with an eating disorder. back to the top
Losing a loved one, either human or animal can be devastating. Grieving is the process by which we go into the pain and come out again a different person, a stronger and wiser person having shared our love. I provide a nurturing place to explore the complex and painful feelings involved in grieving. I hope to give each person a safe and non-judgmental space to experience the healing that can come from grief. We must go through it because we cannot go around it. I have found grieving to come in waves. It can come as a flood of tears out of the blue, but if we try to hold back and bury our grief we’ll continue to carry it with us. We have to have the courage, and something permission, to allow ourselves to feel our feelings and come up for air again. back to the top
From one Mental Health Provider to another
There are times when I work with other mental health professions as their individual therapist. After 30 years in the field I have a lot of experience with the highs and lows of this work and know the emotional toll it can take. I offer support to those needing a safe place to land when life gets difficult either professionally or personally.
Childhood Trauma: Abuse and Neglect. Being exposed to an alcoholic or drug addicted parent, having been molested or raped, moving from place to place and never feeling safe and settled are all areas of trauma to name just a few. The pain and consequences of that trauma can be carried bravely by many for years. It takes it’s toll and there is help available. There is no need to suffer in silence. This kind of pain saps our joy in life and can impact how we care for ourselves, the decisions we make about relationships and how we view the world, ourselves and what we deserve. It can also impact how we parent. I encourage you to free yourself of this painful past and allow yourself to opportunity to face the darkness with strong support and come out the other side healthier and happier.
Attention Deficit Disorders: Living with ADD/ADHD is challenging both for kids and adults. There are tools to use, things that can help. Although there are medications available and required for some to live a functional life, ADHD is on a spectrum and not everyone is at the far end and needs medication. Using a watch, setting timers, making lists, forming routines where important things have their place can help create order out of chaos. Some people use herbal supplements, caffeine and exercise to cope with the way the brain operates. Some of the most intelligent people among us suffer from ADHD. For kids it can be ostracizing. Their peers may not understand why their classmate interrupts others, leaves their seat, impulsively grabs things from other people or has difficulty waiting their turn. There is a lot to learn in childhood and learning about ADHD can help a child understand themselves and include them in their own behavior management. For a more extensive article on ADHD, please see Articles on website.
Support to those in relationships where Asperger’s and other Spectrum issues get in the way of communication, understanding and love. Loving someone on the Spectrum can be frustrating and can leave one feeling detached, unloved, confused and hurt. There are strengths in the relationship but because of the way some people on the Spectrum view the world (and themselves in it) intimate relationships can be challenging.