DO I EVEN NEED THERAPY?

Everyone goes through challenging situations in life, and while you may have successfully navigated through other difficulties you've faced, there's nothing wrong with seeking out extra support when you need it. In fact, therapy is for people who have enough self-awareness to realize they need a helping hand, and that is something to be admired. You are taking responsibility by accepting where you're at in life and making a commitment to change the situation by seeking therapy. Therapy provides long-lasting benefits and support, giving you the tools you need to avoid triggers, re-direct damaging patterns, and overcome whatever challenges you face.

WHAT IS A MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPIST?

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are relationship specialists who work with people and their relationships. We are trained to assess, diagnose and treat individuals, couples, families and groups to achieve more adequate, satisfying and productive marriage, family and social relationships. We also provide premarital counseling, child and adolescent therapy, divorce or separation counseling and other relationship counseling. Marriage and Family Therapists are psychotherapists and healing arts practitioners licensed by the State of California. Requirements for licensure include a related doctoral or two-year master's degree, passage of a comprehensive written and oral examination and at least 3,000 hours of supervised experience.

WHAT IS ART THERAPY?

Art therapy uses art media, the creative process and the resulting artwork as a therapeutic and healing process.
Clients - young, old and in-between - are able to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem. Clients come from all walks of life, facing a full array of challenges. Individuals, couples, families and groups can all benefit from various art therapy formats. A key goal in art therapy is to improve or restore the client's functioning and their sense of personal well being. Art therapists are trained in both art and therapy. The process isn't an art lesson - it is grounded in the knowledge of human development, psychological theories and counseling techniques. Art therapists are governed by the American Art Therapy Association and are required to receive master's level training to enter the field.

WHAT IS EMDR?

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma, post traumatic stress, anxiety, panic attacks, complicated grief, addiction, and countless other disorders. EMDR can be thought of as a physiologically-based therapy that helps people experience disturbing memories in a new and less distressing way. Individuals still remember what happened, but through "processing" --a standardized protocol, which uses bilateral stimulation-- targeted memories are less upsetting. While many types of therapy have similar goals, EMDR appears to be similar to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process completely the experiences that are causing problems, and to include new ones that are needed for full health. "Processing" does not mean talking about it, but rather, to create a learning state that will allow experiences that are causing problems to be "digested" and stored appropriately in the brain. That means that what is useful from an experience will be learned, and stored with appropriate emotions in the brain, and be able to guide individuals in positive ways in the future.

HOW MANY SESSIONS WILL I NEED?

I wish there was a straightforward answer to this. There are just so many factors to consider, such as: What sort of life have you had before coming to therapy? Why are you deciding now to come to therapy? How long has the problem been in the making? How have you coped with the problem up until now? How have your ways of coping compromised your deeper sense of  well-being? What are your goals or hopes for therapy? How will we know when they have been met? (I know! So many questions!) Most of these questions cannot be answered right away; we typically find the answers collaboratively and have a shared sense of when you're ready to wrap up your work, which we discuss together. I should add: I am very interested in seeing all of my clients move on with their lives and be the very best version of themselves in the world, so I am just as motivated as you may be to get to the root of whatever issues you might be facing and find helpful, long-term solutions.