Counseling

What style of therapy do you practice?

I focus predominantly on experiential and somatic therapeutic practices. I weave in the understanding of neurobiology of trauma and stress in the body for mindful practices to support cognitive shifts. I take practices from Bessel van Der Kolk, Peter Levine, Virginia Satir and Resmaa Menakem in order to support a fully embodied experience of counseling.

What does intuitive healing mean?

Intuitive healing doesn’t have to be as woo-woo and out there as it’s often made out to be. We’ve all had a gut reaction to an experience. Whether it was simply knowing that something bad was going to happen or the person you bumped into was a soulmate. Our gut or intuition guides us towards things that are either right or wrong. The problem is most of us are so disconnected from our spirit, or so used to listening to the voice of fear, that we have a hard time listening and discerning what is ours and what is someone else’s.
 
I can’t tell you what to do with your life, but I can help you listen into your highest Self. Healing happens exponentially faster when it is done intuitively. Through the use of yoga therapy, intuitive guidance, Reiki and energy work, I aid in shifting mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual obstacles that are blocking you from receiving the innate wisdom you seek. These sessions help to guide you towards the desires of your highest Self and to attract situations in life that would serve the highest purpose of your soul in this lifetime. No one session ever looks a like, because each and every soul is unique.

How do you use reiki or energy work in sessions?

We are all energetic bodies. Science is finally catching up to what spiritualists always knew. Institutes such as HeartMath are measuring the cardioelectromagnetic field of the heart, and multiple studies show that Reiki and other energetic healing tools are useful healing modalities. It can often be challenging to conceptualize something we can’t grasp with our typical five senses. But just because you can’t see energy doesn’t mean it’s not real. We can’t see the air, and yet we feel it’s presence when the wind blows. Reiki and energy work is a similar concept. It is simply moving and shifting energetic blocks through the chakra system.

 I use a chakra based model to help identity areas of the body that may be experiencing blockages. Chakras are energetic spinning wheels which appear in many lineages of sacred spiritual tradition, but also are mirrored through Western models of thought, such as the modern mapping of the endocrine system. They also line up with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which progresses from physiological security, safety, love and belonging, self-esteem, all the way to self-actualization.  Just like our hormones and endocrine system is constantly shifting according to our everyday lives, diet, and experiences, so too our chakras ebb and flow and sometimes experience blocks. By opening blocks in these vital life centers many people feel more energized to live life according to their highest truth. Through lifestyle modifications, yoga asanas, art, mantras, and meditations, I try to give you the tools necessary to empower you to keep the centers open after sessions.

How do you work with kids?

When I lived in Johannesburg, South Africa, I worked with severely burned children from all over Africa at an organization called Children of Fire. I was a jack of all trades: I worked with children with multiple disabilities and needs aged 3-18 in the school, I worked with speech, I taught yoga, and I did some emotional processing with some of the older girls. The amount of trauma these young children had experienced was unthinkable, and yet they were resilient fighters.
 
Back in the States, I have worked with several other children who have been referred to me from pediatric counselors, doctors and neurologists to work through anxiety, depression, sensory processing issues, and behavioral problems.
 
Each child is wildly enigmatic and creative, and I use that energy to help uncover their own tools to help them process their emotions. This is not a one pill, one practice, magic fix. This work takes patience, but is incredibly rewarding to watch children uncover their own modalities and tools for healing and processing.
 
Often when I work with children, I encourage the parents to take an active role in the treatment, and to schedule their own individual sessions for support.

What is your approach to couple’s and family counseling?

My work with couples and family units is largely inspired by the experiential therapy of Virginia Satir. Clients will be invited to join in through several somatic and embodied practices to feel empowered and safe in the nervous system. I am a strong believer that effective communication cannot take place unless someone is feeling regulated and safe in their nervous system. Together we will focus in on tools that allow you to feel safe, prior to working on effective communication strategies.