Finding the right therapist can sometimes be difficult and frustrating. We don’t want to sugarcoat it. Many clients that come to us have tried many other therapists and either hit a wall with their therapy or felt like they needed some deeper work that a typical talk therapist cannot address. There’s plenty of good talk therapists out there, but when there’s trauma and chronic stress that is stored in the nervous system then regular talk therapy only takes a person so far with their results.
A client will know they’ve reached their ceiling with their talk therapist when they feel like they have plateaued, they are talking in circles from week to week or it feels superficial or surface-level, or there has not been meaningful change in either symptoms or their behavioral and thought patterns. This is a great time to either take a break from therapy for awhile to re-assess and see if some things start moving in a positive direction again, or engage in some deeper work with a therapist that has a different set of skills and techniques.
Our therapists are highly trained in techniques that work to resolve the trauma and stress at the nervous system level, as well as the cognitive level. What that means is that the therapy sessions include components of both bottom-up and top-down processing; we specifically work to address the body, mind, and nervous system as a whole. Those of you that have hit a wall with top-down methods (regular therapy like CBT, for example) know that “just talking about it” doesn’t always release the effects of the trauma or chronic stress. For instance, just talking about the fear you have may not actually release it from your body so you don’t have those horrible panic attacks anymore. Or “just talking” about setting boundaries may not be enough to actually start setting boundaries with your boss so he doesn’t continue to make you work late every night. If you’re struggling to shift that fear state to calm or you’re struggling to set the boundaries even though you “need to”, chances are there is some deeper wounding that happened to you some time earlier in your life that needs to be processed.
Our holistic methods of therapy will help you process it cognitively (top-down from your brain to your body), as well as somatically (in a bottom-up way from your body and your nervous system up to your brain). Using therapeutic methods that integrate both result in quicker results, deeper shifts, and more meaningful change. Additionally, healing trauma at a nervous system level as well as a cognitive (thinking) level helps to re-integrate the fragmented parts of one’s sense of self as well as make the person more resilient to new stressors. All of this leads to a more empowered identity of the self and an improved quality of life because the person is shedding old patterns and strategies that have kept them stuck and unhappy.
If you’ve found yourself stuck in the same old patterns again and again or you’re feeling like you want a fresh and different therapy experience, contact us today to get things moving!