Who am I?
What is my philosophy of therapy?
Who am I?
I am a licensed psychotherapist with a graduate degree in Holistic Counseling (2010). My post graduate training includes Internal Family Systems Levels I & II plus numerous advanced IFS trainings, Andean shamanism, gut health and nutrition and their role in psychological distress, Reiki as a spiritual practice, Himalayan tantra, psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, and direct guidance from plant medicines and spiritual lineages.
Before I was a therapist, I worked as a touring and recording musician, mostly in Europe, mostly singing medieval polyphony in medieval churches. I've also been part of numerous collaborations in pop music, folk music, and performance art. I have a master's degree in music/vocal performance (2004) and was a voice teacher and vocal coach for many years. My undergraduate degree (1986) is in Biomedicine. I had thought I would become a doctor.
At this point, my training and knowledge base flows between science, art, and ancient and modern mysticism, and my mind sources from all those realms. I believe that my life purpose is to help others heal the things that block and limit their access to their inner wisdom, truth, balance, and expansion so that they may develop the capacity and learn the skills they need to live their own life purpose.
What is my philosophy of therapy?
While what I do is called "psychotherapy," I think of the work my clients and I do together as a kind of spiritual inquiry and counseling. This does not mean religion or religious practice. To me, what this means is that each of us is simultaneously both an individual consciousness, in an individual body and life, and a part of the collective human-spiritual experience over time. To me, psychotherapy is inherently spiritual work because when we work with the individual, we are also working in the collective. To me, its always both.
The central dilemma that almost always brings people into my practice is: how do I thrive and belong, how do I love and be loved, in the life and body that I have, as who I am?
I believe our main task as humans, and usually our main dilemma, is to learn to be fully who we are as unique individuals in spite of the relational, social, ancestral, and physical structures (aka "life") that often did not give us what we needed to feel safe and to thrive. I see within everyone's life journey a continual invitation to navigate within or around structures that didn't or don't work for us, develop the skills to change what doesn't work, create structures that do work, to be more intimately connected to other humans, and to aliveness itself, so we can thrive and support others in thriving. I believe our invitation in this life is to make sense of and transform the structures of family, society, epigenetics, and sometimes genetics that don't or never have fit us, so that our souls can find seat and live the life we came here to live.
I believe we get to "mental health" through a process of deeply knowing, and then healing and transforming the burdensome and limiting adaptations and beliefs that we had to create in order to exist safely within the structures that we grew up in, most of which we did not get a vote in creating, and many of which were at least partly inherited.
This process is certainly also a psychological one. The aspects of mind, psyche and personality that were formed within non-optimal structures need healing and transformation on an emotional and mental level. This is usually what people think about when they think of psychotherapy. (Not surprisingly, when we heal on emotional and mental levels, our biology often transforms as well. I have a lot to say about that, future blog post tbd.) And I also see the therapy process as a deeply spiritual journey to strengthen and reinforce our spirits-in-body-minds, if you will, so we can express, in ways that might end up surprising us, our truest self in this day to day life.
I am a licensed psychotherapist with a graduate degree in Holistic Counseling (2010). My post graduate training includes Internal Family Systems Levels I & II plus numerous advanced IFS trainings, Andean shamanism, gut health and nutrition and their role in psychological distress, Reiki as a spiritual practice, Himalayan tantra, psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, and direct guidance from plant medicines and spiritual lineages.
Before I was a therapist, I worked as a touring and recording musician, mostly in Europe, mostly singing medieval polyphony in medieval churches. I've also been part of numerous collaborations in pop music, folk music, and performance art. I have a master's degree in music/vocal performance (2004) and was a voice teacher and vocal coach for many years. My undergraduate degree (1986) is in Biomedicine. I had thought I would become a doctor.
At this point, my training and knowledge base flows between science, art, and ancient and modern mysticism, and my mind sources from all those realms. I believe that my life purpose is to help others heal the things that block and limit their access to their inner wisdom, truth, balance, and expansion so that they may develop the capacity and learn the skills they need to live their own life purpose.
What is my philosophy of therapy?
While what I do is called "psychotherapy," I think of the work my clients and I do together as a kind of spiritual inquiry and counseling. This does not mean religion or religious practice. To me, what this means is that each of us is simultaneously both an individual consciousness, in an individual body and life, and a part of the collective human-spiritual experience over time. To me, psychotherapy is inherently spiritual work because when we work with the individual, we are also working in the collective. To me, its always both.
The central dilemma that almost always brings people into my practice is: how do I thrive and belong, how do I love and be loved, in the life and body that I have, as who I am?
I believe our main task as humans, and usually our main dilemma, is to learn to be fully who we are as unique individuals in spite of the relational, social, ancestral, and physical structures (aka "life") that often did not give us what we needed to feel safe and to thrive. I see within everyone's life journey a continual invitation to navigate within or around structures that didn't or don't work for us, develop the skills to change what doesn't work, create structures that do work, to be more intimately connected to other humans, and to aliveness itself, so we can thrive and support others in thriving. I believe our invitation in this life is to make sense of and transform the structures of family, society, epigenetics, and sometimes genetics that don't or never have fit us, so that our souls can find seat and live the life we came here to live.
I believe we get to "mental health" through a process of deeply knowing, and then healing and transforming the burdensome and limiting adaptations and beliefs that we had to create in order to exist safely within the structures that we grew up in, most of which we did not get a vote in creating, and many of which were at least partly inherited.
This process is certainly also a psychological one. The aspects of mind, psyche and personality that were formed within non-optimal structures need healing and transformation on an emotional and mental level. This is usually what people think about when they think of psychotherapy. (Not surprisingly, when we heal on emotional and mental levels, our biology often transforms as well. I have a lot to say about that, future blog post tbd.) And I also see the therapy process as a deeply spiritual journey to strengthen and reinforce our spirits-in-body-minds, if you will, so we can express, in ways that might end up surprising us, our truest self in this day to day life.
