Why Counseling?
"This is not how I thought it would be!"If you’ve ever said this about your life, you are not alone. In my counseling practice, I work with you in a collaborative, solution-focused way, helping address current life stressors and long-standing challenges.
Collaboration is at the heart of counseling
I believe that collaboration is at the heart of effective counseling and change. In our sessions together I want you to feel that you are heard and understood. I want you to gain tools to better cope with life stressors, work through difficult emotions, overcome adversity, and strengthen relationships.
Common issues of clients seeking counseling vary. Some areas of focus may be:
- Anxiety and stress
- Pre-natal and post-partum anxiety and depression
- Life transitions and identity issues such as motherhood, moving & career changes
- Career and work challenges: managing stress, overcoming creative blocks, conflict-resolution
- Relationships: communication & emotional connection
- Pregnancy loss
- Bereavement & grief
- Spiritual issues
- Chronic pain/health issues affecting quality of life and mood
- Shame and self-blame
- Parenting: attachment parenting and positive discipline
- Military lifestyle issues such as deployment/return & reunion, & OCONUS/CONUS adjustments
The Process of Identifying Stressors
Stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts.
The body’s autonomic nervous system has a built-in stress response that causes physiological changes to allow the body to combat stressful situations. However, this response can become chronically activated during long periods of stress. Prolonged activation of the stress response causes physical and emotional wear and tear.
Chronic stress can disturb the body’s internal balance or equilibrium, leading to physical symptoms such as headaches and problems sleeping. Emotional issues such as depression, panic attacks, anxiety, and worry can also result from chronic stress.
Common external (environmental) stressors include: major life changes, work or school challenges and transitions, relationship difficulties and family life, financial problems, or losing a loved one.
Common internal stressors (your thoughts or thinking patterns) include: pessimism, an inability to accept uncertainty, lack of flexibility, negative self-talk, unrealistic expectations, and perfectionism.
To read more about stress how to identify your stressors, check out this article by HelpGuide.org,
Stress Symptoms, Signs, and Causes
How do you know it’s time for help?
A few early signs that it may be time to ask for help:
- You can’t stop worrying about your current situation or your anxiety about the future is increasing.
- Your sleep patterns have changed: sleeping too much or too little, experiencing insomnia or restless sleep due to anxious thoughts or ruminations.
- You are experiencing increased relationship conflict or conflict has become chronic.
You’re feeling increasingly frustrated and more easily annoyed. - You’re experiencing more feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.
- Life stressors feel overwhelming to you right now.
- You’ve recently experienced a loss and are having difficulty coping.
- Increasingly you try to numb to escape from difficult feelings. Are you spending more and more time scrolling for hours on social media apps while feeling more isolated and lonely?
- Binge shopping online to quell difficult feelings? Drinking more because you just can’t “relax?” Losing yourself down the internet rabbit hole in order to avoid conflict?
Get the latest
Learn about our upcoming E-Courses