Stephanie Vanyo (she/her)

With that said, I try to bring my humanness into sessions too! A genuine, empathetic, person-centered approach is integral to therapy, and for me that means combining the evidence-based skills (such as CBT) with a fun, comfortable, non-judgmental space. This could look like learning more about what you are going through (and how your brain plays a role), learning and practicing coping strategies together for when your emotions start to takeover, reframing unhelpful thoughts together, completing a values card sort and processing thoughts and emotions that arise, or even creative, expressive, or play therapy techniques (adults can do these too!). Amongst all this, you will of course have a voice to share what specifically is on your mind or what your needs are. I also work from a trauma-informed and ecological perspective to help you understand your humanness- we are all impacted by our life experience, despite being different.

I believe that everyone deserves to feel heard and understood, inside and outside of therapy sessions! While your personal values are what we focus on in therapy, I recognize how my values (and resulting behaviors) impact others in society, as well as how what happens in society impacts the mental health of individuals (and we have had some tough times recently!). I do my best to utilize my strengths of empathy, compassion, and support to advocate for marginalized communities. It is important for me to continue learning about the experiences of others, while also recognizing that as an imperfect human being, I will never know and understand everything and everyone 100%. However, in our therapy sessions, remember that my goal is for YOU to understand your life, experiences, and mental health better in order to move forward.