Integrative Health

Psychotherapy is defined as the treatment of mental and emotional disorders through the use of psychological techniques designed to encourage communication of conflicts and insight into problems, with the goal being relief of symptoms, changes in behavior leading to improved social and vocational functioning, and personality growth.

This is usually done through talking and is based on a range of theories about how people work and what helps them feel better. As I worked with people, I found that many did well using only talk therapy. Other people needed a spiritual component and connection to their body and the energy in it.

The spiritual component encompasses the belief that there is something larger than us and that we can draw upon outside energies to support and assist us. For some, this includes the belief that we also are a part of that larger energy and their work is about working through the layers of old beliefs and emotions so that they can connect with that pure energy more easily. This leads to more emotional freedom and greater ease in their lives.

The energy and bodywork component addresses the issue that we are all made of energy. When our energy is flowing freely we feel energetic and peaceful. When this energy gets caught or stuck, this can lead to dis-ease on the emotional, physical, thinking and spiritual levels. We also store the energy of old traumas and beliefs in our cells. Energy work can support the release of that old material.

It appears to me as though the bottom line of most healing is to reclaim self-love and self-acceptance. When we are traumatized and/or hurt as children, if we are not supported to resolve the feelings that come up, we create false beliefs (usually ones that go against ourselves) that we carry into adulthood. These beliefs and the feelings that support them, color the way that we experience life events and tend to make us re-create the painful situations until we have healed them.

In therapy, you will be supported in a compassionate and accepting environment, to bring those old feelings and emotions into conscious awareness so that they can be integrated and transformed. It is my experience that we all have the capacity to heal and that self-love is part of our original nature. We just have to find it again.