Zakiya Pollard (She/her)

My stance on anxiety comes mainly out of cognitive-behavioral theory. I believe that anxiety is a fear that a significantly negative outcome will occur without evidence to prove this to be the case. My approach focuses on identifying the core beliefs underlying that fear and challenging and replacing any beliefs that are untrue or unhelpful. I also provide my clients with tools to help them manage symptoms of anxiety as they come up.

I use cognitive-behavioral therapy and Seeking Safety to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. My first goal in working with trauma is to assist my clients with staying safe through identifying effective coping strategies they can use to manage their anxiety response. I then provide my clients with education on trauma responses and with tools that they can use to manage the beliefs they developed as a result of their traumatic experiences.

I see depression as a state of hopelessness and helplessness, and I want anyone struggling with depression to know that they are not alone! I work with my clients to identify the core beliefs that contribute to these feelings and use cognitive-behavioral therapy to assist them with identifying, challenging, and replacing any beliefs that are untrue, unhelpful, or unkind.

In order to help my clients to manage their responses to trauma, I utilize Seeking Safety and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Both of these treatments treat multiple aspects of trauma by teaching the client about trauma and providing tools to manage issues such as poor self-esteem and poor boundaries. Seeking Safety is best for co-occurring substance abuse and PTSD and does not require the client to talk through the narrative of their traumatic experience.

Because every individual has different experiences and needs, I like to ensure that my approach is catered to each client. Although I have techniques that I normally use, I am open to changing my approach if I receive input from my client. I hope that my clients feel comfortable sharing how they feel about any strategy that I use, because I believe that my client and I are a team working together to accomplish their goals.

I often use cognitive-behavioral therapy because I believe that the theory fits well with the experiences of my clients in terms of how this theory explains mental health issues. I always start by ensuring that my clients have strategies they can use to manage their symptoms at least in the short term. Then, I focus on identifying, challenging, and replacing negative, false, and unhelpful core beliefs.