Our Specialties

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Depression & Anxiety

​Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental health issues in our society. The science of mind-body wellness helps us understand the ongoing connection between the mind and the body.  Anxiety and depression may be triggered by a variety of factors and experienced in a number of different ways. Triggers can include biological, psychological, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual factors, as well as genetic tendencies.  The presence of anxiety and depression changes the biochemical structure of the brain, meaning that certain chemicals called neurotransmitters are out of balance.  Anxiety and depression are not the same, but they often occur together.

Addiction & Recovery

Addiction  can manifest in many unhealthy behavior patterns of managing pain, depression, anxiety and stress through the excessive use of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food, porn, gambling, sex, internet, or any activity that interferes with wellness .   When an addiction becomes unmanageable one or more life domains become disrupted such as career, health, legal, parenting, education, financial stability, or relationships.  Counseling is an essential part of recovering from addiction. Cognitive behavioral therapy, family counseling, and other therapy approaches can help people recover from any addiction to maintain the inner strength required to sustain balance.

Trauma

Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of experiencing stressful events that often involve a threat to life or safety. Any situation that leaves you feeling overwhelmed and alone can be traumatic, even if it doesn't involve physical harm. Your subjective emotional experience of an event determines a traumatic experience. Trauma can be caused by a single one-time event or by ongoing stress such as living in a violent environment, or struggling with disease. The effects of trauma can have severe and long-lasting results causing anxiety, depression, numbness, trust issues, and dissociative symptoms. When trauma is not resolved, fear and helplessness carries over into all aspects of life. With the right treatment, you can recover and regain balance and control.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution therapy is based on the theory that negative emotional responses stem from unresolved inner thought patterns.  Inner conflicts, such as a negative belief system or low self-esteem can trigger automatic defenses resulting in conflicts in relationships, with spouses, parents and children, or colleagues.  Therapy for couples, individuals, corporations, or families is beneficial in redirecting thought patterns and addressing automatic behavioral responses.  With the proper skills, one can achieve a sense of well-being and resolution. Without the necessary skills, negative emotional states are sustained and can develop into situations with larger consequences.

Stress  Management

​Stress management is something that everyone struggles with on a daily basis.  Environmental factors play heavily into stress levels.  Our bodies are indeed affected by our stress levels, which are directly affected by our environment.   Besides environmental stress factors, there are psychological factors that contribute to stress, which may seem easier to control than the environmental factors but both are more linked to our interpretation of the events rather than the actual event itself.  Each can take a toll on our physical and mental health.

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Restoring Balance and Harmony

Health is harmony.

All components of life are interconnected and typically small adjustments in one or a few areas have profound effects on your overall quality of life.  Finding your optimal balance is a personal process and each individual requires a unique and tailored methodology.
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"I have seen the powerful effects of finding, restoring and maintaining equilibrium." -unknown

Golden Ratio

• Trauma Focused Counseling
• PTSD and cPTSD
• Healing From Narcissistic or Toxic Abuse
• Sexual Assault 
• Domestic Violence
• Therapy for Depression and Anxiety
• Stress Management
• Couples Counseling
• Addiction & Recovery
• Spirituality
• Conflict Resolution
• Family Counseling / Parenting Support

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​Our Treatment Approach

Each individual is unique and not all approaches work the same for everyone.  Your treatment will be specifically tailored to your needs and personality.  I am a certified EMDR specialist and have consistently found that the most effective approach with the longest lasting results involves targeting the root source.  Usually a combination of evidenced based modalities are used together to address different issues. Some of the different practices I use the most include:

• EMDR
• Trauma Focused-Expressive-Arts
• S.I.T.C.A.P (Sensory Based Treatment)
• CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
• ​Narrative Therapy
• Attachment-Based Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Therapy
• Family Systems
• Mindfulness-Based (MBCT)
• Narrative, Play Therapy, Relational
• Strength Based 
• Motivational Interviewing​

Expressive Art Therapy
Accessing the amygdala through creative expression

Expressive Art Therapy is an effective form of treating emotional interference and trauma because it reaches the part of the brain that traditional cognitive therapy cannot reach.  It is based on the creative process, which is a non-verbal form of communicating thoughts and feelings, accessing  implicit emotions and memories that cannot be accessed through talk therapy.  Many traumatic memories are stored deep in the brain, located in the amygdala with only an emotional marker.  Often a traumatic experience will trigger the fight/flight/freeze reaction, and bypass the language center, which means that the memory never received a verbal identity and was never logically processed.  Theses emotional markers that reside in implicit memories drive behaviors without access to the processing center, meaning no communication between emotion and logic.  This is why so many people think, feel, react and behave in ways that seem illogical and destructive. The experience of being involved in creating meaningful expressions through non-verbal approaches helps facilitate the re-organization and reconstruction of lodged and unmarked emotions. ​​

EMDR
​ Eye-Movement 
Desensitization Reprocessing

EMDR has been established as an evidence based, highly effective treatment for symptoms of PTSD.  EMDR is additionally used for treatment of:

• panic attacks
• complicated grief
• dissociative disorders
• disturbing memories
• phobias
• pain disorders
• anxiety
• stress reduction
• addiction
• abuse
• body dysmorphic disorders
• personality disorders

​Learn more

S.I.T.C.A.P.
​Structured Sensory Interventions for Traumatized Children, Adolescents and Parents

'Childhood trauma is marked by an overwhelming sense of terror and powerlessness (Steele & Kuban, 2013). Loss of loving relationships is yet another type of trauma that produces the pain of sadness and grief. The resulting symptoms only reflect the neurological, biological, and emotional coping systems mobilized in the struggle to survive. Young people need new strategies for moving beyond past trauma, regulating emotions, and coping with future challenges.

Neuroscience confirms that trauma is experienced in the deep affective and survival areas of the brain where there are only sensations, emotionally conditioned memories, and visual images (Levine & Kline, 2008; Perry, 2009; van der Kolk, 2006). These define how traumatized youth view themselves and the terrifying world around them. Reason, language, and logic needed to make sense of past experiences are upper brain cognitive functions that are difficult to access in trauma (Levine & Kline, 2008; Perry, 2009; van der Kolk, 2006). This explains the limitation of traditional talk therapy or narrowly cognitive interventions. Therefore TLC’s Structured Sensory Interventions for Traumatized Children, Adolescents and Parents (SITCAP)
starts with the lived experience of youth which drives their behavior.'
-TLC SITCAP