Therapy can be undertaken for many different reasons. Maybe life has become increasingly stressful and your usual ways of coping are not working any more. Perhaps long-standing hurts and issues start interfering with your everyday life. Chronic conditions such as depression or anxiety might be hard to deal with, even with medication treatment. The beginning or end of a relationship or a work situation might feel like too much to handle. Or perhaps you’re noticing that your child is having a hard time at home or at school and doesn’t seem to get better despite your best efforts. All of these issues might bring an individual or a family into treatment. Whatever the initial reason for seeking out therapy, the therapeutic process is always a unique, personal exploration that can give you, your child, or your family the opportunity to grow and gain insight into the nature of your/their struggles. Working with a therapist can also teach you and your family new strategies and coping skills to meet life’s challenges and to better manage symptoms from mental or physical illness.
Every therapy session is developed to meet your unique, individual needs. Therapy sessions can be used to discuss the key issues and concerns in your life, to help with skill-building, to teach stress-reduction techniques, or to use the creative process to elicit insight or support integration. Therapy typically requires the therapist and client to commit to a series of weekly sessions, with each session lasting between 45 to 60 minutes. Individuals who are going through a particularly difficult challenge may request more time per session or more than one session per week. For therapy to be most effective you must be an active participant. Sometimes, I ask clients to work on specific skills in between therapy sessions to support their progress.
Since each individual or family is unique, the length of therapy varies. During the first few sessions, you can work with me to identify your key concerns and a treatment plan can be developed based on this. Sometimes the treatment is short-term and will focus on specific skill building to address concrete challenges. At other times, treatment can be continued for longer periods of time, if longer-seated issues need to be addressed. I approach therapy as a collaborative approach and am always open to exploring how your treatment is going and what you can expect from it.
I am a psychotherapist trained to work with individuals and families in many different ways, using approaches that are tailored to each individual or family . One of the tools I have at hand as a creative arts therapist is using art-making as part of the healing process. You do not need to be an artist to use art in this way! As an art therapist, I can guide you through the use of different expressive materials to support your personal therapeutic process. The purpose of art making in therapy is not to create a finished product, but to support integration and healing through accessing the non-verbal and creative centers that each individual is inherently endowed with. The use of art in therapy is particularly beneficial when working through traumatic experiences, as well as for adults and children who suffer from depression and anxiety. It’s been shown to be effective for individuals with ADHD, speech or developmental delays, or neurobiological conditions that affect executive functioning. It’s also highly effective for individuals who simply have a hard time verbalizing their difficulties and may find alternative forms of expression a more direct way to communicate their needs.
For more information about art therapy, please consult the American Art Therapy Association.
Somatic Experiencing is a model for working through stress and trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine as a result of his work in medical biophysics, neuroscience, and psychology.
Through his research and clinical work, Dr. Levine reached the understanding that “trauma originates as a response in the nervous system” rather than being in “the event” itself. He found that supporting clients in reestablishing the natural equilibrium of their nervous system allows trauma symptoms to resolve. With this understanding, a comprehensive system of trauma treatment evolved. In Dr. Levine’s words:
“Somatic Experiencing is a short-term naturalistic approach to the resolution of post-traumatic stress reactions. It is based upon the ethological observation that animals in the wild utilize innate mechanisms which regulate and neutralize high levels of arousal associated with defensive survival behaviors. Somatic Experiencing normalizes the symptoms of trauma, which bind this arousal, and offers the steps needed to resolve activation and heal trauma.”
For more information about Somatic Experiencing and the training of Somatic Experiencing Practitioners (SEP’s) please refer to the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute.
I’m currently in-network with CIGNA. I’m also an out-of-network provider with many other insurances. If you have out-of-network benefits, your insurance company will likely reimburse you for my services. On a weekly or monthly basis, I can provide you with an invoice containing the necessary information that is required to process your claim. Please consult with your insurance provider to determine what level of coverage you have. Please also read through the Fees section of the website for more information.