Approach To Treatment

I generally take a biopsychosocial perspective in how I think about problems originating. The biological component can relate to your body’s neurochemistry or other health factors that impact your mood and thoughts. The psychological aspect relates to your global beliefs about the world, other people, and about yourself. It also relates to behaviors and feelings that impact your life. The social aspect relates to your relationships with others and how you perceive your place in the world. This can include your current living/working environment and cultural factors. All of these aspects change throughout life and people can need help coping with some or all of these aspects at different points in their lives.

My primary mode of treatment is through the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Through this treatment modality, I will help you to look at thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that have been getting in your way for you to make the changes you want to make in life. We then work together to modify those thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors so that you can make the changes you want to make in your life. This is a collaborative process where you help in determining the focus for each session and where you are asked to give feedback if therapy is needing to shift in direction.

My approach to therapy is also influenced by my training in internal family systems therapy.  Even though this theory has the word “family” in the title, it does not involve bringing in your whole family for an appointment. It refers to the idea that we all have something similar to a diverse family of perspectives about life within us. For example, if you find yourself grieving about a chapter of your life ending, you may find yourself viewing it from the diverse perspectives of feeling sadness, numbness, relief, and more. What I love about this approach is that it can help you to tackle your goals from the somewhat-conflicting perspectives that you might hold about those goals. For example, if you are a college student who wants to get your bachelor’s degree, but you find yourself feeling unmotivated to show up to class, this perspective can help us to learn more about that part of you that needs to address other needs before you can feel fully invested in a college degree. The goal is to look at how your behavior makes sense in the moment.

As you review therapist websites, you will recognize that there are many treatment modalities for providing therapy. From my work as a counselor and as a supervisor of other counselors in training, this has strengthened my belief that there is not one treatment approach that is a perfect fit for all people and for all mental health concerns. You might find that one treatment approach works best for you when you are working on one issue and you might find that a different treatment approach is more helpful to you at another point in your life when you are addressing a different issue.

I believe that each counselor has a different gift so I am hopeful that you will seek out the right counseling match for the goals that you have at this point in your life. If I am not the right match for you now, it could be that we could work well together at another stage in your life.

If you are reading this and currently feel that you are in need of emergency mental health services, please call or text the national crisis line at 988 or go to your nearest emergency department for help. We helping professionals count on the whole system of helpers. There are many cases where people feel initially skeptical that they will be able to get the help that they need. Through trying different mental health treatment approaches, trying different medications through work with a physician/psychiatric specialist, if that is needed, and through testing out making other life changes, so many do find a new sense of satisfaction with their lives. This will not sound like the most polished statement, but I do believe it can take some trial and error of working with different helping resources until you find the right combination of what you need in your life at the moment.