Brianna Halasa (she/her)

When we’ve gone through a painful experience, we can “know” intellectually that we're safe but still feel anxious, scared, or overwhelmed. We can sometimes have intrusive thoughts and flashbacks or feel like we're reliving the painful experience. EMDR appears to connect what we know to what we feel, so that the body can heal. Additionally, we'll aim to understand the connection between physical sensations and emotions through somatic experiencing.

When we’ve gone through a painful experiences, we can “know” intellectually that we're safe but still feel anxious, scared, or overwhelmed. We can sometimes have intrusive thoughts and flashbacks or feel like we're reliving the harmful experience. EMDR appears to connect what we know to what we feel, so that the body can heal. Additionally, we'll aim to understand the connection between physical sensations and emotions through somatic experiencing.

I utilize a health at every size and intuitive eating approach to working with body image issues. Intuitive eating is an anti-diet approach to building a trusting and accepting relationship with your body. It involves listening to your body to make food choices that feel good for you without judgment or influence from diet culture.

Whether you want to strengthen platonic or romantic relationships, I work with clients to understand the history and significance of each relationship. I then teach skills for healthy communication, utilizing the Imago Dialogue and techniques that could allow the other person to be more receptive to difficult conversations and less defensive.

Somatic experiencing therapy is a body-oriented therapeutic model that aims to settle issues of stress, shock, and trauma that build up in our bodies over time. Together we will assess where you’re feeling stuck in the fight, flight, or freeze state based on lived and felt experiences and then provide tools to resolve those fixated physiological states.

Do you ever go to sleep feeling upset and wake up feeling slightly better the next day? EMDR uses a similar yet more in-depth technique to rapid eye movement, most commonly using lateral eye movements but also including other forms of bilateral stimulation, like tapping or sounds. We'll pick a past or present distressing event that has caused disturbance as we work to form new associations and links with adaptive information and desensitize internal or external triggers.

As a second-generation Arab American and child of immigrants, I understand the richness and beauty that being part of a collectivistic culture can provide. Yet I am also aware of the issues that can arise in trying to forge your own identity and create fulfilling relationships while embracing the most meaningful aspects of your culture. I love working with children of immigrants trying to navigate intergenerational family dynamics or cultural conflicts in a way that feels best for you.