Counseling to Enhance Bay Area Women's Lives

If you were to grant your mental health the true value it deserves, what would you do differently? Use therapy to feel stronger emotionally, build your community of support and progress toward personal goals. As your psychologist I’ll serve as your consultant and coach as well as your therapist. We’ll work together to protect, build and sustain your well being, happiness and life satisfaction. As writer Matt Haig says in The Comfort Book, “In order to get over a problem, it helps to look at it. You can’t climb a mountain you pretend isn’t there.”

Be Seen and Heard

Use therapy to be honest about where you are emotionally, to speak up for yourself. Face problems to reduce their impact. Tend to your suffering. Gain knowledge. Value mistakes for what they teach you. Take a fresh look at your reactions and responses. Build up and use your range of strategies to de-compress. Access support as you try out healthier ways of handling thoughts and feelings. Access your vulnerability as path to connection. Receive encouragement. Articulate intentions and goals. The past does not have to determine the future. 

Speak Up

Therapy is different things for different people. You may simply want to talk to someone, to sort through what’s going on in your life. You may want help with anxiety, depression or a difficult relationship. You may be looking for information, tools or guidance. You may want to improve the way you think about yourself or relate to others. Everyone benefits from support and encouragement.

Telling your story in an honest and authentic way can help you accept yourself. It can also help shape your narrative about yourself moving forward. We’ll consider your experiences, thoughts, feelings, actions, lifestyle and relationships. We'll look at whether there are things you are doing that unintentionally maintain your worry or sadness. We’ll talk about areas for acceptance, growth or change.

Have Your Own In House Psychologist

I use an integrative approach, drawing on various schools of therapy and best practices to provide individualized care. My recommendations reflect a focus on what works for you. They are grounded in belief in the power of kindness, focused attention and open awareness in promoting mental health. As a psychologist, part of my role is to share relevant findings from psychological science with you. You’ll test out what works for you. I'll be interested in what you are already doing to support your health and well-being. Let me know what practices, apps, websites, books or articles you find helpful, and which people make you feel good.

Access Your Motivators

Emotional pain can be one of the most powerful motivators to make positive changes. It's healthy to seek support during stressful times. As people we are deeply social. We find our way out of difficulties better with others than on our own. Talking to loved ones can be helpful. But, therapy offers something different - a private setting, time dedicated to you and access to a professional perspective. Sharing what you are going through is a healthy thing to do. Ordering your thoughts can help guide your steps forward.

Start Small

What in your life would you like to make a little bit better? Start small. Little moments of satisfaction and appreciation feed and sustain well-being. Thinking or acting just a touch differently can be surprisingly powerful. Each small action strengthens new pathways, making it easier next time. Change takes its own time. Meanwhile, you build new, healthier habits by repeating them again and again. They'll take the place of old ones that fall aside.

Be Aware and Accept

Awareness, acceptance and change are linked. Awareness of thoughts, emotions and behavior sets the stage for reducing their negative impact. Acceptance can help you figure out better ways of managing what's bothering you. Both awareness and acceptance play a role in loosening up stuck emotions.

Let Actions Lead

Therapy includes articulating personal goals and taking steps toward them. It may involve practicing and strengthening skills, for example in the areas of stress management, emotion regulation, health behavior, self care, communication, assertiveness and/or managing negative feelings.

Articulating what matters to you and moving in that direction, something therapists called “valued engagement” can help you orient your life toward meaning, with a focus on personal qualities you choose to manifest regardless of the outcome.

Your choice to do therapy may be linked to a focus on living healthfully more broadly. Many people make what we psychologists call ” therapeutic lifestyle changes” alongside their therapy. This includes things like making time for movement/exercise, eating healthfully, spending more time in nature, investing in good relationships with family and friends, engaging in recreation/enjoyable activities, relaxation, stress management, being of service to others or orienting toward moments of appreciation or awe.

Do Less

For some people, counseling involves encouragement to do less. Inaction can also be therapeutic. If you run anxious or tend to be perfectionistic, you may have noticed you have a tendency toward "doing-ness" and busy brain. This can lead to overthinking and overworking. It’s important to know when you’ve done enough, stop and let go.

If this sounds familiar, it may serve you to engage less your with anxious thoughts. The less you feed them, the weaker and less troublesome they become. You can loosen your grip and rely less on control strategies to manage anxiety. You may be ready to let go of responses, actions and thought patterns that don’t serve you anymore. By reducing your avoidance of things your fear you can free your energy for positive aspects of your life. .

Start Feeling Better Today

What can you do today to boost your mental health and life satisfaction? Shift away from your screens. Go outside. Move your body. Connect with someone you care about. Take breaks from your work throughout the day. Meditate. Do yoga. Try breath work. Drink and smoke less, or stop. Start or end your day with gratitude practice. Focus your energy away from worry and toward a sense of satisfaction by accomplishing simple tasks. What makes you feel awe? Point yourself in that direction. Orient your energy toward interesting or meaningful pursuits, things that inspire and uplift you, that give you a sense of purpose and get you out of your head. Get help. 

Enjoy Gratitude and Connection

Let's look ahead. Yes, life still has its ups and downs. Challenges come your way. But, your mood is better. Your reactions and responses feel different. You know what to watch for, what to pay less attention to. You bounce back more quickly. You notice yourself appreciating small things. You experience contentedness more often, a sense of connection, an orientation toward meaning. You may notice feeling more expansive, hopeful, interested or excited. You have the self-awareness, knowledge and practices to support your well-being, to be a good guardian of your mental health.

Ready to Move Forward?

It's your time to feel better. Contact me to get started.