therapy points – Integrative Consultation

1. Therapy is about your wellbeing – personal, social, and professional development. You do not have to be damaged, insane, or mentally ill to use therapy effectively. It is a neutral space for you to nurture and empower your best self. Integration is self, psychology, emotion, body, mind, coming together. This is integration.

2. There is no quick fix – although there are naturally effective and sustainable ways to generate health. Therapy is work. When we work together, we develop observation of where you organize yourself organically and where it takes effort to balance the contradictions. You will spend your time between sessions actively changing things in your life.

3. Resilience – You have a natural resilience which can be fostered, and this healing force needs your attention. This is the heart of all the talk about mindfulness and positive psychology, lately. It only works if you work it. It needs your inner work, self reflection, and self care. While attending to problems, we can set goals and keep them going based on your strengths and resilience. This is integration of the body and emotions.

4. Therapy can be painful sometimes – we all have parts of ourselves that don’t fit who we think we are, or which cause us troubling depressions or anxiety. Bringing our attention to those sores spots might cause pain. Things might need to get worse before they get better. We create an empathetic field together. This is emotional integration.

5. I am your therapist – it’s not like your friends, family, parents, or priest. I can help you understand when I can be there for you and when I can not. Sometimes this clarity is best thing about therapy.

6. Be honest – you may not always like me, but you must be comfortable with me. I’m open and I have heard literally EVERYTHING. So, ask me anything and talk about: sex, money, hate, love, fears, secrets. Find out about my biases and lets have a direct conversation. I will be real and obvious about my personal life or views, if you wish to ask. I am an open person and that affects my professional view. Your honesty will show us where we can start working.

7. Expectations – It’s not about your past or future, but both might look and feel different if you stick with your goals and adjust your expectations. Learning to use your past and understanding how to hold your future is part of being present in the now. We can expand your sense of who you are through mapping out non-integrated parts of you and getting a clear picture of your whole self. This is where mindfulness becomes psychological integration.

8. Time and money – This will take an investment of time and money. You can understand it through the idea of health integration or preventative health. Let’s talk about what that looks like directly, here.

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