I’ve been influenced by a variety of psychodynamic, experiential, somatic, attachment, and trauma-informed approaches to therapy, some of which are detailed below. My group therapy work is grounded in extensive postgraduate training through The Psychotherapy Institute, Center for Group Studies and the American Group Psychotherapy Association and its affiliate societies. I am a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP) through the International Board for Certification of Group Therapists.
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)
Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) is an integrative model of psychotherapy that brings together relational work, experiential techniques, and a focus on the process of change and healing itself. Drawing from research on attachment theory, affective neuroscience, emotion theory, somatic approaches, and transformational studies, AEDP seeks to engender new experiences of feeling understood, of recognizing and expressing previously-unacknowledged emotional truths, and of integrating positive affective experiences. AEDP is guided by the foundational principle that healing is an innate, biological process – ever present in all of us – which can be awakened under conditions of attunement, respect, and care.
I’ve completed the AEDP Institute’s Level I training.
Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT)
The Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT), developed by Dr. Stan Tatkin, draws from more than thirty years of research in neuroscience, arousal regulation, and attachment theory to help couples move towards secure functioning relationships. Secure functioning refers to partners operating according to a shared purpose and vision, as well as according to principles such as fairness, sensitivity, collaboration, and mutual protection.
PACT sessions promote focused attention to microexpressions and micromovements, nervous system responses, other aspects of partner interactions that contribute to each partner’s felt sense of safety and security. This emphasis helps partners become experts on each other and more empowered to deal – quickly and effectively – with relational distress.
I’ve completed the PACT Institute’s Level I & Level II trainings.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a short-term, naturalistic approach to the resolution and healing of post-traumatic stress reactions. SE is based upon the ethological observation that animals in the wild use innate mechanisms that regulate and neutralize the high level of arousal associated with defensive survival behaviors. These mechanisms provide animals with a built-in immunity to trauma, which enables them to return to normal in the aftermath of highly charged life-threatening experiences. SE normalizes the symptoms of trauma, which bind this arousal, and offers the steps needed to resolve these symptoms.
SE does not promote emotional catharsis, but instead working within one’s range of resilience to facilitate the most efficient healing recovery possible. Significant time will be spent helping you recognize and expand the internal, external, and missing resources that can aid in this healing process. SE works predominantly with the “felt sense,” accessing physical sensations, imagery, and motor patterns, with less emphasis on cognitive and emotional processes.
I’ve completed over two-hundred hours of training and over eighty hours of teaching assistance in SE through Somatic Experiencing International and am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP).
Hakomi
Hakomi is a form of guided self-study that relies on the power of present emotional and somatic experience to access and study core material: the memories, images, beliefs, neural patterns, and emotional dispositions that shape how we experience ourselves in the world. A defining characteristic of core material is that it is unconscious. Hakomi provides a method for becoming conscious of and exploring this material, as well as for integrating new, more nourishing experiences.
I’ve completed over two-hundred hours of training and over three-hundred hours of teaching assistance in Hakomi-based therapy through the Hakomi Institute of Oregon.