Finding a good fit with a psychotherapist has been shown in studies to be the most important factor in determining a successful outcome. To make finding a good fit affordable for you, I offer first sessions at $60.
Please contact me to learn more about Creativity Counseling & Depth Psychotherapy treatment.
What does it mean to have a good life? Does it mean having enough money to pay rent and bills? Does it mean having a partner or family? Lots of friends? How about having a good career? Is it better to achieve the things I want or be happy with things I have? How will I know when life has become good? What if I still get angry or sad or can’t find a partner or still don’t know where I belong? What if I have many of the things that make a life great but am still not the person I want to be? What if I fell behind on that timeline of how my life was supposed to go according to the plan and now I’m not sure what to do?
What if I am still angry at my father or still miss my mother?
What if I woke up one morning and realized that a lot of what I was doing was because it was what my parent wanted?
What if I have realized that “normal” just doesn’t and won’t ever really apply to me and I’m ready to create my life to my own specifications?
Creativity counseling is about sifting through the different voices, ingrained rules, social conditioning, gender identity, and parental expectations to uncover and nurture the you that is there somewhere, that best self that you know is possible. It means ditching that plan you made at five or ten or fifteen years old about how life was going to go and when you were going to get married and how many kids you were going to have or how much money you were going to make so that you can make space for the life and gifts you actually have right now. Right. Now.
The therapy part means learning how to put aside judgements, knee-jerk reactions, and hitting the mute button on self-criticism– all of which stifle our ability to respond creatively. Working creatively means learning how to turn down the volume on the internal voices that hold you back (which just by itself is probably going to improve life by a few degrees) and negotiate the external voices that pressure you into staying the same. Instead of relying on these old voices, we’ll figure out how to tune into a new station where there is more space, capacity, and trust to see and take the opportunities life is offering.
Working creatively means learning to get more comfortable with the things that make you uncomfortable. We all have our edges, whether they are around hiding vulnerability, judging and criticizing others, seeking approval and self-esteem from others, holding on to anger, withdrawing with we feel frightened or threatened, being stingy with love and affection, or resenting disappointment. These are edges that keep us closed off to ourselves and others, keeping us stuck in patterns and limiting our options. However, they also point us towards where there is room to grow and find a more flexible, sustainable way of relating to the world and ourselves. The more we can incorporate, the less we have to resist, the more energy we have freed up to do other things.
Finally, creativity in therapy means uniting the masculine and feminine so that we don’t need to rely on others to make us whole or be seduced by things outside of ourselves, learning to love in a way that makes us proud, and living our values. This is hard work that is possible only from knowing who we actually are, being able to procure the support we need, and courage to become someone we couldn’t have pre-planned.