Individual Therapy
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”
–Oscar Wilde
Welcome to the start of something better.
Something brought you here today, to this website, seeking guidance, answers, help. You’re looking for something to let you know that it’s going to be okay, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.
It might be undeniable that your relationship is failing or your anxiety is through the roof. You may already know that shame, fear, or self-loathing plague you and drive you to act out or behave in ways that are unhealthy.
Or, it could be a more subtle discontent feeling that you can’t quite put your finger on – a disconnection from self, a lack of identity, or an inability to embrace yourself fully.
Whatever it is, you know you don’t like it. You know you aren’t enjoying your life even if, in certain moments, it doesn’t seem “that bad.”
If that were enough for you, though, you wouldn’t be here. You want more. You just don’t know what or how to get it.
Gay, straight, transgender, single, married, divorced, teen, young adult, adult, therapy can help you build a life you enjoy living. The life you have lived until this point has been painful, unfulfilling, chaotic, or even dull. You deserve more.
It’s your life, shouldn’t you be enjoying it?
As children, we romanticized adulthood. We could eat ice cream for dinner, and no one could tell us when to go to bed and, best of all, no school! All our problems would go away, and we could just do whatever we wanted and be happy all the time.
So why aren’t you?
Why are you dissatisfied, irritable, sad, and unmotivated? Why do you lack energy or decline invitations? Why is it you can’t seem to feel comfortable or at peace in anything you do?
No one is around explicitly telling you what to do or how to do it, so why do you always feel you’re doing something wrong or living according to a rigid set of expectations and standards? Why do you feel you’re letting someone down or failing when you haven’t even paused long enough to ask if YOU are happy and satisfied?
There are tons of reasons you might suffer from discontent, listlessness, irritability, panic, sadness, or excessive tension and worry. When you’re in it, it’s hard to make sense of it. It helps to have an objective person point out blind spots and connect the dots.
But am I at the point where I need help?
“Needing help” doesn’t require any particular standard of unhappiness. It just means that you don’t know how to sort through all the different thoughts and feelings you have.
“Needing help” doesn’t require that you have a diagnosable mental illness. It just means that you weren’t given the skills and insight to help you navigate an increasingly complex world.
There are so many advice columns and suggestions and lists on ways to be happy. Even just Googling “how to be happy” can be overwhelming; it makes misery seem appealing.
“15 Habits of Incredibly Happy People”
“How to Be Happy: 25 Habits to Help You Live a Happier Life”
“How to Be Happy: 20 Ways to Be Happier Today”
And on and on the lists go, often contradicting themselves from one list to the next.
How about this: ONE clinically proven way to reduce shame, decrease dissatisfaction, lessen anxiety symptoms, and eliminate unhealthy behavioral patterns – therapy.
The mind is an incredibly complex organ that even scientists and doctors don’t fully understand, let alone the average parent/guardian charged with rearing healthy, balanced, and insightful children.
It says nothing negative about you that you’re considering help from someone trained and educated in understanding the psyche. Someone who can create a treatment plan specific to you using evidence-based practices and approaches.
Trust me – it’s a much better investment than checking items off a list and hoping what worked for your neighbor’s mom’s best friend’s cousin will work for you, too. The first step is to stop ignoring yourself.
Everything is fine… so long as we can ignore the problems.
Work…
School…
Finances…
Kids…
Animal Crossing…
To-do lists…
They’re all distractions from the fact that you’re actually not very happy with the life you’re living or the image of what’s ahead.
Having to exert that much control constantly, though, can be exhausting. You run yourself ragged, trying to convince yourself and everyone else that everything is fine and you’re happy.
It takes courage to decide you want something different from life.
And it usually involves coming off autopilot and REALLY stepping into the reality of the life you’re living.
Imagine screaming – letting it all out – actually saying aloud how unhappy you are, what you really think, and how you really feel, no filter. There comes sadness, for sure, but also great relief.
Imagine setting down the façade and the guard… and allowing the thoughts that keep you up at night to come spewing out.
It’s okay. You’re safe to process these thoughts and feelings aloud with me.
Ripping off the band-aid is just the start, though.
When we mindfully engage in our lives, we come face-to-face with harsh realities and pain, the things we’ve been turning a blind eye to this whole time.
This also opens us to experience joy, love, peace, happiness, excitement, and so much more.
Your life worth living can take on any form. It just has to be one that fulfills you and aligns with your true authentic self.
We will sort through the pains of the past and present, untangle the web of distorted and irrational thoughts, and lift the parts of you that are screaming to come out.
I’m here to help you make sense of your inner world…
… and help you create an external world which reflects you.
The process of individual therapy starts by understanding where you are and what you are struggling with. Over the first few sessions, I’ll ask you to paint a picture of your past, and I’ll do my work of connecting potential dots and helping you better understand the ‘why.’
I’ll help you understand why you struggle in the ways you do and how past events and experiences have created your current belief systems and patterns. The only way through the issues is to understand them, and the only way to understand them fully is to speak with a therapist and dissect them.
From there, we can use cognitive-behavioral therapy and other methods to help change self-defeating thoughts, increase self-confidence, and cultivate an authentic you. This will allow us to paint a future that is in line with who you are now, after processing everything, which may or may not change your original plans.
The goal is to create a healthy, confident, authentic you who can build a life that YOU find worth living, regardless of others’ opinions and expectations. You deserve to know how to validate yourself, provide empathy and compassion for yourself and others, and navigate the natural ebb and flow of life effectively.
So what are you waiting for?
Allow yourself the peace that comes with sorting through the chaos.
Allow yourself to be fully seen and understood.
Allow yourself to let down your guards and defenses and learn to embrace life.
Allow yourself to pick up the phone and call me for a free consultation: (561) 578-3058.