ONLINE THERAPY FOR CATHOLICS
NEW YORK | RHODE ISLAND | MASSACHUSETTS
A DIFFERENT APPROACH
Trauma Informed
Christ Centered
Story Based
Your Story Matters
We all live stories written by our history, relationships, circumstances, ourselves and our God. If we read these stories, we become able to understand what we think and feel, what we do, and why we do it. We become able to see who we are and who God is. Making time to read our stories and reflect on what we find there helps us to change what we can toward the good, to move and grow beyond where we are, and begin to heal what has been wounded. In Catholic terms, it helps with our ongoing work of conversion.
Deciding it’s time for a change is an important step.
It takes courage to reach out when we are in pain. Yet when we do reach out, we take the next step toward healing. When we share our pain with someone else, we bring it out of darkness into the light. In therapy, we make time to read our stories and space to tend to our wounds, placing ourselves in the hands of an expert companion.
Let’s Read It Together
Every symptom you experience holds a story. It is the expression of a wound that has not yet been tended and seeks care. No matter what brings you to therapy, I honor with reverence the sacredness of your person and your story, in the understanding that human suffering has been lived and sanctified by the Lord Himself.
In therapy, I will work with you to cultivate greater freedom and peace, allowing for change in your story moving forward. We will explore your history and trace your pain back to its origins, considering both spiritual and psychological perspectives of how it came to be in the context of your unique life. Based on the insights we gain, I will help you find ways to manage or alleviate symptoms, to understand your way of relating to yourself, others and the world, and provide support as you work to process and integrate your story toward growth and healing.
Reasons Clients Come to See Me
Trauma/Grief/Loss
Trauma may be anything that interrupts the ordinary flow of your life, that is experienced as a shock or rupture, and brings with it grief and loss. There is a before and after to the experience, where you feel things will never be the same again. It can shatter your core beliefs about yourself, others and the world. It may come as a medical diagnosis, a sexual assault, or the loss of a cherished relationship or home. It may come as a betrayal, an act of war, or an accident that leaves you disabled or in chronic pain. However trauma enters your life, whatever form it takes, the brokenness you feel right now can be the beginning of a story where tragedy is transformed into wisdom and strength. Where growth beyond what you believe is possible, can happen.
Attachment/Relational Trauma
As children we rely on our caregivers to provide for our needs and orient us to life. We learn about ourselves, others and the world through our early relationships. As Christians, we know we are born into a fallen world. The effects of the fall in Eden have been passed down to us through the people who have lived before us. While every generation does its best to care for the next, there is an ongoing struggle with the wounds we come to bear through our reliance upon humans who are themselves wounded. We may come to learn things about ourselves, God and others that are not entirely true, and develop ways of coping to protect ourselves in the face of chronic relational rupture without repair. Therapy can help to identify the ways you have been impacted, support your work toward change, and bring an experience of secure attachment in the therapeutic relationship.
Anxiety/Depression
Thoughts and feelings of worry and despair can be debilitating and isolating. They can stop us from participating in life and separate us from one another, intensifying and magnifying our suffering as we try to go it alone. As humans, we are made for connection. Our hearts long to be received, cared for, and held with compassionate understanding. Yet when we feel trapped in states of anxiety and depression, we shut down. We seal off to protect ourselves in our pain, and avoid what we fear or dread, rather than approach to move through it to the other side. These feelings and experiences are universal. No one has not felt afraid at some point. No one has not felt hopeless. Our best move, even when we struggle, is to reach for someone who can offer caring, empathic support.
Scrupulosity/OCD
There are many types of obsessive-compulsive experience. All are in some way an expression of the human fear of uncertainty. This may manifest as an uncertainty about whether you have sinned mortally, whether you killed the person you just drove by on the road, or whether you are marrying the right person. It may manifest as ideas of doing harm to your baby or another child in your care, and these thoughts horrify you. There are many variations, but no matter the type of obsessive-compulsive scenario you experience, it is distressing. It is painful. And it is possible to address. It is possible to move toward a different way of relating to your fears. Change is possible.
