Approaches to Therapy
Brainspotting
“Where you look affects how you feel.”
Developed by David Grand, Ph.D., Brainspotting is a mind, body and relationship-based psychotherapy approach that uses the field of vision to find where a person is holding an experience in their brain. It is hypothesized that a brainspot is the activity in the subcortical brain in response to focused activation and eye position. Holding a relevant eye position while in a state of mindfulness can create access to where stressors, traumatic experiences, and also useful internal resources are held. This access which may otherwise be inaccessible via talk therapy. While focused on a point in your field of vision that correlates with the spot in your brain where you’re storing the issue, you may experience a variety of body sensations, emotions, memories, or deep relaxation. Together we will follow your process to create resolution.
While there are similarities to EMDR, Brainspotting is unique in that it focuses on eye position and fixation, as opposed to movement. I will use attunement to follow your lead, as opposed to following a rigid protocol and together we will create the circumstances that facilitate your natural and instinctual, neurological and body based ability for healing to take place.
Depending on the trajectory of your experience in session, processing may continue for days. You may experience mental or physical fatigue. Please plan to rest, hydrate, and continue with increased self-care following your sessions.
This Brainspotting process is often accompanied by the simultaneous use of bilateral or biolateral music, played at an extremely low volume on headphones worn by the client during session. You can prepare for engaging in the process by downloading some tracks to your mobile phone, or by bringing your own pair of corded headphones to the office for in-person sessions to plug into my MP3 player. If you will use ear buds, please make sure you have the option to turn off noise cancellation/ have ambient sound turned all the way up, since it will be important that you can still hear me while you are listening to the quiet music. For sessions on Zoom, you will need one device for our call and a separate one for your music.
I like Bilateral Stimulation: EMDR Music Therapy found on Apple Music or Spotify (but please make sure you will have no interruptions by commercials). You can also search for David Grand biolateral music or Bodhi Tree. There are great options on YouTube as well. What’s important is that there are alternating sounds to each ear, and no words. Choose tracks that you like!
Attachment - based
Attachment-based therapy is form of therapy that applies to interventions or approaches based on attachment theory, which explains how the relationship a parent has with its child influences development.
Child Parent Psychotherapy
CPP is an intervention model for children aged 0-6 who have experienced at least one traumatic event and/or are experiencing mental health, attachment, and/or behavioral problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder. The treatment is based in attachment theory but also integrates psychodynamic, developmental, trauma, social learning, and cognitive behavioral theories. Therapeutic sessions include the child and parent or primary caregiver. The primary goal of CPP is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her caregiver as a vehicle for restoring the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning. Treatment also focuses on contextual factors that may affect the caregiver-child relationship.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy stresses the role of thinking in how we feel and what we do. It is based on the belief that thoughts, rather than people or events, cause our negative feelings. The therapist assists the client in identifying, testing the reality of, and correcting dysfunctional beliefs underlying his or her thinking. The therapist then helps the client modify those thoughts and the behaviors that flow from them. CBT is a structured collaboration between therapist and client and often calls for homework assignments. CBT has been clinically proven to help clients in a relatively short amount of time with a wide range of disorders, including depression and anxiety.
Play Therapy
Generally for children ages 3 to 11, play therapy is a form of counseling that relies on play to help therapists communicate with children and understand their mental health. Because children develop cognitive skills before language skills, play is an effective way to understand a child. The therapist may observe a child playing with toys--such as playhouses and dolls--to understand the child's behavior and identify issues.
Psychodynamic
Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, evolved from Freudian psychoanalysis. Like adherents of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapists believe that bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness promotes insight and resolves conflict. But psychodynamic therapy is briefer and less intensive than psychoanalysis and also focuses on the relationship between the therapist and the client, as a way to learn about how the client relates to everyone in their life.
SandPlay
Sandplay therapy establishes a safe and protected space, where the complexities of the client's inner world can be explored. Often young children, clients place miniature figurines in a small sandbox to express confusing feelings and inner experiences. This creates a visual representation of the client's thoughts and feelings and can reveal unconscious concerns that are inaccessible. The therapist does not interpret, interfere with, or direct the client's sand play but maintains an attitude of receptivity and acceptance, so the client can bring unconscious material into consciousness without censure.
Approaches to Therapy
Art Therapy
It may look like a craft class, but art therapy is a serious technique that uses the creative process to help improve the mental health of clients. Art therapy can be used on children and adults to treat a wide range of emotional issues, including anxiety, depression, family and relationship problems, abuse and domestic violence, and trauma and loss. Commonly found in hospitals and community centers, art therapy programs are based on the belief that the creative process is healing and life-enhancing. As they paint or draw, a skilled therapist can use the client's works of art and their approach to the process as springboards to help them gain personal insight, improve their judgment, cope with stress, and work through traumatic experiences.
Attachment - based
Attachment-based therapy is form of therapy that applies to interventions or approaches based on attachment theory, which explains how the relationship a parent has with its child influences development.
Child Parent Psychotherapy
CPP is an intervention model for children aged 0-6 who have experienced at least one traumatic event and/or are experiencing mental health, attachment, and/or behavioral problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder. The treatment is based in attachment theory but also integrates psychodynamic, developmental, trauma, social learning, and cognitive behavioral theories. Therapeutic sessions include the child and parent or primary caregiver. The primary goal of CPP is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her caregiver as a vehicle for restoring the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning. Treatment also focuses on contextual factors that may affect the caregiver-child relationship.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive-behavioral therapy stresses the role of thinking in how we feel and what we do. It is based on the belief that thoughts, rather than people or events, cause our negative feelings. The therapist assists the client in identifying, testing the reality of, and correcting dysfunctional beliefs underlying his or her thinking. The therapist then helps the client modify those thoughts and the behaviors that flow from them. CBT is a structured collaboration between therapist and client and often calls for homework assignments. CBT has been clinically proven to help clients in a relatively short amount of time with a wide range of disorders, including depression and anxiety.
Play Therapy
Generally for children ages 3 to 11, play therapy is a form of counseling that relies on play to help therapists communicate with children and understand their mental health. Because children develop cognitive skills before language skills, play is an effective way to understand a child. The therapist may observe a child playing with toys--such as playhouses and dolls--to understand the child's behavior and identify issues.
Psychodynamic
Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, evolved from Freudian psychoanalysis. Like adherents of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic therapists believe that bringing the unconscious into conscious awareness promotes insight and resolves conflict. But psychodynamic therapy is briefer and less intensive than psychoanalysis and also focuses on the relationship between the therapist and the client, as a way to learn about how the client relates to everyone in their life.
SandPlay
Sandplay therapy establishes a safe and protected space, where the complexities of the client's inner world can be explored. Often young children, clients place miniature figurines in a small sandbox to express confusing feelings and inner experiences. This creates a visual representation of the client's thoughts and feelings and can reveal unconscious concerns that are inaccessible. The therapist does not interpret, interfere with, or direct the client's sand play but maintains an attitude of receptivity and acceptance, so the client can bring unconscious material into consciousness without censure.