Cris Fort Garcés Creative Now Therapy (she/they)

Our self-esteem is deeply connected to our formative experiences and the space that was or was not given to us. Through mindfulness/body-based practices, creative arts therapy explorations, and exploring the present moment, we can uncover the roots about our self-beliefs and begin to transform them safely and with great care in the therapy situation.

We had to learn to shut off parts of ourselves that were not allowed to be expressed. While this was a brilliant solution as a child, it can feel deeply satisfying to continue to live this way as an adult. Unfortunately, when we shut down one part of ourselves, it's like tossing a wet blanket over our whole system. In therapy, we can safely take risks to explore these exiled parts and bring some energy and life back into our bodies.

Our energy is tied up in the stories about our anxiety or what we feel is safe or unsafe to step into. We attempt to manage or control the uncontrollable as a way to avoid potential pain points because we were not supported as children to tolerate difficult situations. In therapy, we learn to become more comfortable with the unknown and free up our energy to support what we can do and where our strengths and resources lie in order to live with more agency instead of guessing at the future.

Our energy is tied up in the stories about our anxiety or what we feel is safe or unsafe to step into. We attempt to manage or control the uncontrollable as a way to avoid potential pain points because we were not supported as children to tolerate difficult situations. In therapy, we learn to become more comfortable with the unknown and free up our energy to support what we can do and where our strengths and resources lie in order to live with more agency instead of guessing at the future.

Our energy is tied up in the stories about our anxiety or what we feel is safe or unsafe to step into. We attempt to manage or control the uncontrollable as a way to avoid potential pain points because we were not supported as children to tolerate difficult situations. In therapy, we learn to become more comfortable with the unknown and free up our energy to support what we can do and where our resources lie in order to live with more agency instead of guessing at the future.

Our energy is tied up in the stories about our anxiety or what we feel is safe or unsafe to step into. We attempt to manage or control the uncontrollable as a way to avoid potential pain points because we were not supported as children to tolerate difficult situations. In therapy, we learn to become more comfortable with the unknown and free up our energy to support what we can do and where our resources lie in order to live with more agency instead of guessing at the future.

Somatic therapy includes + brings attention to the experiences of our bodies, including sensations, emotions, feelings, and yes, even your thoughts, and how they all interface to create a fuller picture of our situation. Many of us have had to survive by (or have been socialized to) diminish our connection to our body. While this was a brilliant solution for us as children, as an adult we can feel dissatisfied by this disconnection, noting that we feel stuck, anxious or depressed.

In Gestalt psychotherapy, we bring attention to your present moment experience, the therapist–client relationship, environmental and social contexts, and the myriad of adjustments we make from moment to moment to bring to light beliefs and ways of being that are not in our awareness but are deeply impacting our behavior and choices. We engage in real-time therapeutic experiments to deepen our awareness + try out new behaviors to co-create organic coping skills.

Art therapy can assist us in accessing core material that can often slip under the radar in talk therapy. Because it activates a different part of our brain and engages our creativity, we can move out of the experience of stuckness and into visualizing solutions, calming our nervous systems, becoming reacquainted with our strengths, or discovering something new about ourselves or our situation.