My Therapeutic Approach
Contemplative Social Justice Psychotherapy
I use a variety of therapeutic modalities that are used to focus on the client’s desired outcomes for therapy. You are at the center of our work together and through our collaboration, we will discover what it is you are needing most to progress on your journey. The contemplative social justice approach provides a depth of inquiry into a person’s embodied experience and a breadth of awareness for their social context.
Contemplative Psychotherapy
Contemplative Psychotherapy (CP) is a mindful and somatic approach to mental health counseling and psychotherapy. This style of therapy seeks to help you become aware of your habits, beliefs, and emotional responses through embodied presence. The fundamental premise of CP is that all humans have an irrevocable belonging to this earth and deserve to experience a sense of well-being.
Many of the issues that cause us difficulty in our lives today come from our attempt to use outdated strategies for getting what we want. Most of these strategies no longer serve their purpose. Through developing your own self-knowledge, CP can help you recognize whether or not the strategies in your own life serve their purpose or not. In this way, you will be able to identify what you need in order to arrive at a place of happiness, well-being, and freedom from suffering.
Social Justice Approach
Dr. Sará King says that social justice and wellbeing are the same things. Bringing a social justice approach to psychotherapy means acknowledging that we all have an intrinsic right to experience wellbeing. Each of us is unique based on our race, gender, culture, sexual orientation, ability, age, economic position, religion, citizenship status, body type, and more; therefore, each of us has a different path to personal fulfillment.
The social justice approach also recognizes that all of us have gone through some type of trauma and that through every trauma, each of us gains more wisdom about what we need and what we must do to fulfill these needs. We are our own authority on the healing process and know what direction will be most beneficial to our journey.
Additionally, neither our pain nor our path to wellbeing are separate from the larger context of the communities and societies we live in. Therefore, as we make internal changes, we are also inspired to make changes in our relationships and communities. Taking action for our own wellbeing is the first step to taking action for the wellbeing of the whole planet.
Mindfulness Instruction
Kabat-Zinn says: “Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” Essentially, mindfulness is about noticing, with kindness, the details of what it means to be human on the most fundamental level. I am a Certified Mindfulness Instructor, certified both through Naropa University and MNDFL Meditation Center. Through our work together, I am confident that you will enhance your awareness of your own internal experience and understand your patterns of responding to your relationships and the world around you. What’s more, I want to use mindfulness practices that are specific to your wants and needs to deepen the healing effect of therapy and quicken your journey to reaching your goals!