Treatment: Finding the right fit
What to expect from counseling
Counseling can be a different experience for everyone. At your first appointment I will take the time to review my disclosure statement, a document that explains my policies in greater detail. We will also spend time discussing what brought you to services, goals you have for counseling, and collaborate on a plan for treatment.
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Counseling involves a commitment to growth and desire to change. At times, counseling may feel positive or cathartic, and at others may result in discomfort as we process through difficult symptoms, life experiences, or painful thoughts and feelings. I cannot offer any promise or guarantee about the results you will experience. However, as you commit yourself to work through your vulnerable issues and build upon your strengths, it is likely that you will see improvements throughout our work and in the future.
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Time and duration
I work with all my clients on a weekly basis at 55 minute intervals. As your symptoms change and improve, there are options to reduce session to every other week, or to move to my on call list. If you cancel several sessions, in which I perceive as a barrier to a positive therapeutic process, I will ask that you be removed from your recurring appointment slot and be placed on my on-call list.
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The healing process is different for everyone, and timelines for growth and processing change person to person depending on symptoms, needs, and access to different strategies. With this in mind, we will take time as needed to review your growth and progress in order to ensure that current treatment still meets your current needs.
Building a theraputic relationship
I believe that therapy is about finding your true self and learning to embrace both the vulnerable struggles as well as the hope and strengths you have. It is important to me to develop a genuine relationship with my clients where we can safely meet your needs. While counseling can be a vulnerable experience, some pairings will not be a good fit. As we work together, if I feel I am not suited to meet your needs, I will approach this topic in session, and work with you to find what is a good fit. Likewise, if you feel my style of work is not the right fit, I encourage to you bring your concerns to me so we can problem solve, develop options, or find another practitioner who better meets your needs. While this conversation might be an uncomfortable one, sometimes we don't know what we need until we learn what we didn't need. A "no" can help us narrow into a "yes."
My current practice
Currently, my focus is on individual treatment. I do not provide couples or family counseling. I am also not a crisis clinician at this time. I work with children, adolescents and adults, offering both in person and telehealth options for residents of Washington state.
Art therapy is the process of using creative media in order to process self, needs, thoughts and feelings, and create space to better understand yourself. Drama therapy is the use of performative practice to reveal, express, and process life experiences and symptoms. This can be done through an embodied experience in order to problem solve, express self, and better understand your personal story. Using a creative approach in counseling can assist in fostering a new understanding in sense of self, increase in awareness and confidence in self, and allow for new options to neural pathways to develop. As with other forms of treatment, use of creative interventions can promote new options for processing, reducing conflict and destress, and promote change.
Creative therapy Interventions
Talk based Interventions
As a licensed clinician, I work from a strength based and client driven lens. My goal is to assist you in processing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and to pursue change and growth on your terms. To do this, we can look to see skills and strengths that you are employing in parts of your life to see if they can assist you in other areas.