Is your heart heavy with sadness or fear?
Are you worried whether you are enough?
Are you lacking purpose, drive or direction?
Do you feel exhausted, alone, worried?
Are you having a hard time connecting with the life you want?
Does it seem like nobody gets it?
Do you wish you felt closer to your loved ones and enjoyed your relationships?
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Understanding how thoughts, feelings and actions interact, you can make lasting changes that improve your life. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a scientifically proven approach that actually works to make lasting changes in life. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an action-oriented approach that stems from traditional behavior therapy and CBT.
The theory behind ACT is that it is ineffective to try to control psychological experiences, because suppression of painful feelings leads to more distress. Instead of trying to change the way you think, ACT employs strategies to increase mindful behavior, attention to personal values, and commitment to action. By taking steps to change behavior while learning to accept their emotional experiences, clients can change their attitude and emotional state.
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Forman EM, Herbert JD, Moitra E, Yeomans PD, Geller PA. A randomized controlled effectiveness trial of acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. Behavior Modification. November 2007;31(6):772-799
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Hayes, S. About ACT. Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. Accessed Feb 6 2017.
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Dewane, C. The ABCs of ACT. Social Work Today. Sept/Oct 2008;8(5):34.
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Long, D. ACT Certification. Assoc for Contextual Behavioral Science. Accessed feb 6, 2017.
I am a strength-based, solution-focused therapist. While I don't ignore the past, much of our conversation focuses on the present and the future. This reflects a basic belief that problems are best solved by focusing on how you would like your life to be, and moving toward that, rather than focusing too much on what might have been had you been able to rewrite the past. Read more here about the effectiveness of this approach.
To assist you in healing and making changes, I offer both in person and online therapy. You can meet with me in person at my offices, in a private courtyard, walking together, or via phone or online (teletherapy). Sessions are typically 50 minutes once a week, depending on your needs.
COACHING
Coasting along, but wanting more movement in a particular area of life? Schedule a series of weekly meetings, each lasting approximately 50 minutes, for a term of three months. Whether you want to meet face-to-face, online, by phone, or a combination of these options, I can help you...
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Identify your needs and values
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Define and simplify your goals
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Specify your action plan
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Eliminate irritations
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Balance work, social/family and personal time
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Discover your innate creativity
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Practice paying attention
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Identify and engage advocates
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Evaluate your wins
Group coaching is a popular, affordable and interactive alternative to individual coaching and follows a similar plan as described above, but on a focused topic shared by the group.
Problem Solving
Coaching is great for solving complex problems because it guides and supports group members to closely clarify the problems, identify powerful strategies to solve them, and specify relevant and realistic actions to implement those strategies.
Accountability
Support and accountabilities can be used to ensure that group members actually apply the content that they got from education provided in person, through book studies, etc.
Team building and Networking
Members' strong focus on helping each other can quickly form a close and confidential bond in which members come to rely on each other to achieve individual goals. Because members count on each other, they share their needs, open and honest feedback, and useful and practical resources among each other.
Skill building
Coaching has been proven to be a powerful means to cultivate change in people. Organizational change, including cultural change, requires change in people as well. In some formats of group coaching, the members not only get coached, but they practice coaching.
Affordable
The groups can be lower cost than individual coaching because the members do much of the work in the groups.
Leadership Skills
There are many skills that group members will develop, regardless of the purpose of the group. For example, they will build skills in presenting to a group, asking for and accepting help, listening, asking good questions, action planning and learning from reflection.
Fun
Group coaching is interactive and filled with the creative force of many minds coming together to encourage change in each other. There is often as much laughter as there is learning.
Group coaching involves weekly sessions for a period of 2-3 months (depending on topic). Each session is approximately 60-90 minutes. Work within the sessions is a combination of individual and group activities. Read below for some examples of questions/topics for group coaching. Contact me if there is a topic for group coaching you would like to be considered for a customized group.
