I actively try to create a safe environment in which you can explore all your thoughts and feelings. As we trace the roots of these in order to understand and make sense of them, we’ll look at your environment, the soil in which you grew, and where you are now: your personal and family history, wider cultural and historical factors, the stressors you’re facing at present, and the interaction between all those elements and your particular personality.
What was enriching and sustaining in your environment, and how did you make use of this?
What was missing or even destructive, and how did you cope or try to compensate?
What are your specific strengths? What are the areas of potential vulnerability?
This process can help you develop a richer connection to your sense of self, with a greater awareness of your needs and wishes, and a new respect for your unique resilience. Many behaviors shift naturally as your core sense of self starts to feels sturdier. This newfound understanding can also help facilitate new ways of relating to yourself and to important others in your life, and to feeling more alive, engaged, and authentic.
In this way, therapy can lead to long-term improvement and changes. And you can continue to flourish even after the therapy itself has ended.
Our work together involves going beneath the surface of your everyday life and conscious awareness. We do this partly to try to make sense of what is happening in your life – to understand the impact of unconscious influences on your behavior, relationships, and feelings.
I encourage you to speak freely about whatever is on your mind without censoring your thoughts or feelings, to allow space and “air time” for all parts of you. I invite you to bring in your dreams, fantasies, and bodily sensations. Our exploration is likely to aerate the soil of your unconscious life and allow the seedlings of new life to start to germinate.