What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy
In the past, psychotherapy could be thought of as something that obligated clients to talk about things that were too difficult to bring up. How does psychotherapy work if 1) you aren’t clear about what’s wrong to begin with, 2) you know what’s wrong but it’s too painful to talk about, or 3) you don’t want to talk about it? When we break down the word psychotherapy, we discover psyche refers to the mind as a part of you that impacts all of you, and especially the body. Therapy refers to attending and guiding, so psychotherapy enables the person seeking change to attend to their mind--with guidance--so that overall health and wellbeing is supported, and toxic emotions, thoughts, and feelings can be eased.

I believe that in order for psychotherapy to bring about change, it must address your experiences—how you process things, how aware you are of the problem itself—so you can better understand the whole of it, and come to realize the options you have. As a person seeking change, successful growth during psychotherapy (and counseling in general) depends on your full engagement, curiosity, and a willingness to explore. In order to support you in talking about painful experiences, my goal is to help you focus on areas that are perhaps already changing, and raise your awareness about what’s falling away (and what’s coming into being). In this way, you can creatively guide your own process of change, rather than have change control you.