Your counselor should help you to feel comfortable. You should feel respected. You should feel heard. You will know when you’ve found the right counselor for you within the first one or two sessions. It takes courage to show up to your first counseling session, and that courage should be honored with a great deal of respect and caring!
My Counseling Style:
I often draw from the following resources and approaches
- A Narrative-Style Approach, rewriting your story with compassion
- Mindfulness and “Grounding” Techniques
- Various Career Counseling and Strengths-Based Approaches
- Personality Psychology (MBTI), a non-pathologizing approach
- A thorough understanding of the Bullying Dynamic and how it affects both children and adults in a variety of settings
- Bioecological Systems Theory (Uri Bronfenbrenner) – a close look at all systems from biological to psycho-social
- A Trauma-Informed Approach to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (Crisis Counselor, YWCA OKC, 3 years)
- Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (36 hrs workshop, 5 yrs experience)
- Rapid Resolution Therapy (Jon Connelly)
- Rapid Rewind Technique (Human Givens)
- Image Transformation Therapy (ImTT) Dr Robert Miller
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Francine Shapiro
- Neurofeedback by Myndlift
Important Influencers
- Lundy Bancroft – The Batterer As Parent
- Besel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score
- Peter Levine – Waking the Tiger, In an Unspoken Voice
- Courtney Armstrong – The Therapeutic Aha!
- Anna C Salter – Predators
- Daniel Goleman – Social Intelligence
Personal Statement
A professor once said that “All truth is God’s truth”. To me this means that I need to remain humble and to learn from each person I meet, and to honor their truth and their experience of life. My job is to create a safe space for our spirits to meet and to each become more whole than before the meeting.
I do want to “Honor the Creator” by my life and work, but even more than that, I want to build a bridge for relationships and love and a feeling of joy, wonder, and wholeness. I think that the Creator would be pleased with that goal. I think that this was a part of the original plan: for humanity to live in a state of wonder, and joy, and wholeness, and connection.
The goal for “my Life’s Work” is one of love and acceptance; this gives me a place of belonging in that plan. Life can only work when people feel loved and known. My office is to me, a sacred space of holding and trust so that relationships can happen.
LifeWorks Counseling Services 