Category Archives: Therapy

Therapy Soothes and Challenges

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I love my work, and I know this work delves deep into who I am. When I first started to do counseling with couples, I studied complicated techniques like Milton Ericson’s hypnosis, and Virginia Satir’s work on anxiety that burrows inside your body. I watched in amazement 15 years ago as trauma was eliminated with EMDR (Eye Movement Reprocessing by Shapiro). I then studied with Judith Herman who wrote “the Book” onSueSerena healing after acute trauma. One never gets bored with the study of family therapy. Consider these requests by parents:

  • “Can you cure children suffering from enuresis?”
  • “What happens when my partner uses spyware on my computer?”
  • “When I suspect Janelle’s using drugs and she denies it, should I sureptiously read her journal?”

It is my pleasure to help families, but I don’t take credit for curing the problem. Therapy can help make crushing schedules more bearable; realign the meridians of power among parents and children; get parents paddling in synch instead of rowing against each other. The stress level and complicated after school activities packs in too many expectations. Headaches and stomachaches can give cues as to whether stress is high. In therapy I deal with the irritating pebble in the shoe, and the chaos of flashbacks. Plus I now know how much the work is helping myself. The old adage says, “You teach the subject that you most need to learn.”

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A Sad, Dark Knight

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Jessica, John, Gordon, Alex, Rebecca, Matt, Jon, Veronica, AJ, Micayla, Jesse fell to violent killing in Aurora CO.This is a story of sorrow. These people have left us. Farewell, adieu, to God. It is a time to cradle our love and wish them safe journeys to the next world. We are grieving and we don’t want this type of gunning down to happen again.

With your close ones, share your feelings and reactions to the Aurora killings. Children 8 and over have heard about it, and parents will want to initiate a conversation to assure children they are safe. We need to admit what happened (no need to emphasize gory details). All family systems need a protector, because kids know they are vulnerable. Your role, along with family counseling, is to keep them safe. Be confident in this.

I’m sorry personal guns are used this century more against humans than for hunting. I grew up on a farm, and guns were for deer and geese, never to be used in self-defense. Killing was linked to the food you eat, not to get revenge or attention.

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“I can’t visit my child.”

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One of the worst imaginable things is to be separated from those you love. Some parents are in prison, others lose their right to see their children for years. They were not granted visitation rights by a judge.  In abuse cases, one parent may ask that the abuser refrain indefinitely from seeing their child.

Clients enter family counseling, mourning this contact. Of course they miss seeing their children grow up. Still they can maintain and grow in their identity as a mother or father. A wise friend of mine, miscarried a child and never was able to have another child. But in those months of carrying a child, she became a mother. Her tenderness and her outlook towards others changed forever, even though she never had physical contact (well, contact outside) with her child. Still, she identifies as a mother.

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Welcome!

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It takes courage to go to therapy. Who adores wrestling with problems? But therapy could be a critical turning point for you. In Spanish (I speak Spanish), there’s an expression, vale la pena. It means the pain is worth it.

I enjoy challenges. I’m good at working with those who are anxious or depressed or who have family problems. Some of us are in deep grief, or have unresolved pain from the past. I enjoy putting puzzles together; some couples feel that their spouse is too controlling. Some want to change old patterns of yelling or speaking. Some want help as they adjust to getting older or change in medication.

As an independent family counselor I work well with angry kids and frustrated parents. I have often worked with abusive children, those who self-abuse and those who’ve bullied. Families grow, no matter how bleak the present dilemma. My model includes creativity and compassion. I include music and art in my practice.