Attachment

How you Do One Thing is How you do EVERYTHING. How You relate with Your Therapist provides a glimpse into your relationships with EVERYONE, especially those close -family, friends, intimate partners. Together we become keenly aware of how you Connect AND where you tend to Disconnect -- for very good reasons - with people who you want to know on a Deeper level, but are afraid of being rejected or abandoned by them. This work will put you in the driver's seat in your relationship lane!

I focus on how we learned to attach to others throughout our lives. What lesson's did we learn about trust? What emotions were accepted and which were rejected? I have seen how learning about how we connected with others from a very young age teaches us about how we connect with others now. When we explore these learned reactions we can relearn our relationships and be more compassionate with ourselves in our own journeys to connect with others.

I have additional training in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy which utilizes and attachment perspective to help heal the bonds between you and your partner(s).

I have worked for the past 4 years with teenagers with disrupted attachment patterns due to being separated from their biological parents. I attend clinic team case presentations weekly with a focus on attachment.

Together we will explore early life experiences to understand more about how you came to be who you are today. The way we attach, or do not attach, to our primary caregivers as a child has a huge impact on our adult relationships. We will identify your personal attachment style, and examine how this plays out in your past and current relationships. We can work together to assist you in developing a healthier attachment style to improve your relationships, and feel more secure in them.

The therapeutic relationship can serve as a microcosm for other relationships in our lives. I strive to establish a connection with my clients that allows space for experimentation, exploration of early and repetitive relational patterns, and practicing rupture and repair.

Attachment Theory states that your relationships with your primary caregiver(s) as an infant & adolescent laid the groundwork for your primary relationships as an adult. Most attachment (relationship) issues ultimately boil down to 2 questions: "Is it safe to be me?" and/or "Do you love me, just as I am?" These are tender places. I'm here to provide a safe & loving place for you to explore these questions, as well as their impact on your relationships.

I specialize in working with adult clients who have experienced complex trauma and mis-attunements in the childhood environment. Recovery is possible with therapy that is focused on developing skills, discovering yourself, and experiencing new attachment patterns. I have experienced, studied, and worked with many clients to reframe and recover from their experiences. This is my passion.

I've worked for the past 8 years with clients on Attachment issues and how it affects their relationships. I've also done extensive therapy for my own attachment issues and taken several CEUs on attachment work.

As social beings, relationships are an inevitable part of our life. This starts from our early relationships with caregivers, to friendships, and to intimate/romantic partners. Often we have a pattern in relationships that is rooted in our experience with caregivers and can also be seen in how we relate to the social world around us. Because relationships are such an integral part of our life, much of my work with clients has been on healthy relationships, secure attachments, and building trust.

At the foundation of all of our lives is the way we connect to others. When you were an infant (and through out your life) certain neurobiological patterns got set up that influence your relationships to others, to your world, and to yourself.

Whether in individual or couples therapy, I will learn more about your own early experiences like your attachment styles with your parents or caregiver and help you understand how that may influence your own behavior in relation to others. This is helpful in gaining insight into what you may need from others and want from others and together we can learn how to confidently ask for what you need.

How we were raised and the love and attention we did and did not receive plays a substantial part in how we feel and see the world. Our attachment style greatly influences us in our adult lives, and can dictate how our relationships go. Knowing our style is important, as is how it influences our interactions with the people closest to us. Increasing our understanding of how attachment affects us greatly strengthens our compassion, and our ability relate in intimate ways.

Life is all about relationship--with others as well as ourselves. I believe so much of our struggling and suffering has to do with the wounds, unbalanced conditioning, and false beliefs that cut us off from knowing closeness, safety, and and fulfillment in connection. The concept of attachment is something I have studied and continue to study deeply because I know that the number one ingredient for successful therapy is strong and authentic connection.

I am trained in DARe (Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning). DARe is a treatment modality built on extensive research about attachment styles and how a better understanding of those attachment styles can unlock the human's natural ability to self-heal. It is a holistic approach, largely based on Somatic and Relational healing techniques, helps us discover the source of those patterns and to apply the right understanding to unwind them, thus releasing new energy to heal trauma.

Our family of origin sets us up for our "modes" of attachment where current relationships can still trigger our past feelings of abandonment, rejection, invalidation, etc. along with their correlating sensations in the body. This all makes for a difficult time navigating current relationships, even if they are healthy. I enjoy showing clients where attachment styles may affect them currently in relationship and how we can heal past wounds creating a sense of wholeness they've never had before.

I am a relational & attachment oriented therapist, meaning I frame everything I do in these paradigms. As a somatic oriented attachment therapist we will explore early issues around bonding, how they show up in the body and how they affect your current interpersonal connections. I sues safe somatic touch and movement to get us out of our heads and into the somatic mind, the body and bring safety into the attachment system.

Do you have difficulty being vulnerable in your relationships? Do you find yourself unable to reach the level of closeness or emotional depth you desire? I would love to help. I deeply enjoy helping people connect with others in their lives in ways they never thought possible. This usually entails giving yourself a chance to explore what has been getting in the way, which often means taking a compassionate look at the first relationships you developed in your life.