PHILOSOPHY

T R A I N I N G   A N D   A P P R O A C H   T O   C O U N S E L I N G :   Our approach is informed primarily by psychodynamic principles. We emphasize creating a safe, supportive environment in which you can explore your own experience and gain insights into your underlying feelings and thoughts. Together we will uncover deeply held assumptions that may have been useful at one time, but currently reinforce ways of coping in the world that are no longer effective or relevant. With a therapist’s guidance you can learn a range of problem-solving options that may be new, or that may have previously felt out of reach or uncomfortable due to an internal conflict.

Over time, old patterns of thinking and behavior become more easily recognizable. Therapy can help you perceive the consequences of your patterns, understand the meanings of your patterns, and manage your anxieties about change in order to open up exciting new possible ways of being in the world. We help you play with, practice, and live with the courage to function more independently and confidently in all aspects of life.

Contrary to misconceptions that therapy is forever “dredging up” old history and focusing on the past, our effective approach to therapy liberates you from your past. We study what has influenced you from your past in order to develop what the psychoanalyst, Melanie Klein, calls, “a mind of one’s own.” Therapy releases you from a history of reflexively responding to echoes from your past as though they were still present. We help you use this mind to live consciously in the present.

Depending upon your needs, we may also draw upon other approaches to psychotherapy (see below) when we feel that doing so will be helpful and appropriate to your circumstances.

Interested in learning more? Our “questions about therapy” section provides an overview of psychotherapy in general, and insight into our perspective and approach to psychotherapy.

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O U R   W O R K   W I T H   C L I E N T S   I S   B A S E D   U P O N   T H E  
I N T E G R A T I O N   O F   A   N U M B E R   O F   S C H O O L S   O F   P S Y C H O L O G Y  
A N D   P H I L O S O P H Y ,   P R I M A R I L Y :
• Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic Therapy (“Depth psychology”)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Existential Psychology
• Systems Theory
• Western & Eastern Philosophical Traditions
• Mindfulness Practice
• Play Therapy
• Choice Theory / Reality Therapy
• Rogerian Psychotherapy
• Recent discoveries in human development, attachment, emotional functioning and affective neuroscience