Symona Stans (she/her)

I have experience providing intensive DBT therapy and running a DBT therapy group within community mental health. DBT is one of my favorite therapy modalities because it provides very practical skills to help us deal with day-to-day difficulties, regulate our emotions, tolerate painful feelings and situations, build stronger relationships with others, and find peace within ourselves and the present moment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the backbone of my therapeutic style as cultivating an awareness of the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors is fundamental when it comes to moving toward a healthier, more balanced internal state. Once we have an awareness of how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are inextricably linked, we can work with any one of those to create a much greater change in our overall well-being.

ACT is another one of my favorite therapy modalities in that, instead of telling us to uselessly fight against the circumstances of life that are out of our control anyway, it teaches us how to accept whatever comes our way. ACT also helps us create more meaning and joy in our lives as we clarify what it is that we value most and make moves to always live by those values.

Anxiety is something we all experience, especially living in this modern world that's full of all sorts of stressors. It's natural for us to want things to go a certain way as it is human nature to seek pleasant experiences and avoid painful ones. Overcoming anxiety is about learning to let go of the urge to control our circumstances and finding ways to accept that unwanted experiences will always come. We can also lower our anxiety by learning to be more in contact with the present moment.

Attachment to our caregivers, which begins to develop in our very first months of life, continues to shape who we become and how we make decisions for the rest of our lives. If our needs weren't properly met in our first experiences in childhood, it often leads to difficulty feeling emotionally safe in future relationships to friends, family, loved ones, peers, and even strangers. Our attachment styles can even influence our values, purpose in life, and other major life decisions.

Attachment to our caregivers, which begins to develop in our very first months of life, continues to shape who we become and how we make decisions for the rest of our lives. If our needs weren't properly met in our first experiences in childhood, it often leads to difficulty feeling emotionally safe in future relationships to friends, family, loved ones, peers, and even strangers. Our attachment styles can even influence our values, purpose in life, and major life decisions.

Most of us struggle with relationship issues because relationships, in and of themselves, are very challenging. They involve two completely different humans with very different personalities, histories, world views, and needs coming together in a way that has the potential to make their lives more meaningful, but they can also come with a lot of pain and feeling misunderstood. Our struggles in relationships are often rooted in our attachment styles, formed by past relationship experiences.