My Orientation

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Given the importance that I place on the relationship with my clients, I use a Humanistic approach which emphasizes: positive regard between me and my clients, genuiness and honesty, empathy, and being non-judgmental. People do and should not have to delve into the difficult parts of your life all alone. At first, there may be reluctance to disclose difficult or embarrassing parts of their lives. However, when these are confronted head on and shared with another, they lose their power and the fear is diminished.

In addition to Humanistic approach, I also enjoy depth work in which dreams, narratives, and images give us insight into our unconscious. Often times these are readily dismissed as irrelevant, but I do believe that they are how the unconscious communicates with us about unfulfilled needs and desires. Perhaps they are touching a sensitive subject that we are not ready to deal with on a conscious level, so they manifest themselves in a safer method through our dreams, images, or narratives.

I also take a holistic approach to therapy, one where I try to see the interconnections between body, heart, mind, spirit and environment. Many of us are probably drawn towards one or more of these aspects than the others, but it is important to realize that they all affect us. For example, we may not be too physically inclined, yet ignoring our bodies to the point to its own detriment starts to affect our thinking and emotions. Our different aspects have to be in relative balance and be taken care of, lest they make us aware of their ignored needs by manifesting themselves in unpleasant ways (usually pain).

Finally, I see myself as a long-term therapist, someone that’s there for my clients through the good times as well as the bad. While I understand that most people look for a counselor when they are overwhelmed, I do encourage you to take care of the daily stresses before they become bigger issues. A good analogy is: would you rather stop exercising once you’re fit and start up again once you need to lose weight, or would you rather keep exercising to maintain a healthy body? It’s much easier to deal with big issues in life if we’re not burdened with the hundreds of other little things that could have been dealt with ahead of time.