As you look at the image of my kintsugi piece, notice the gold veins where the cracked or broken pieces once were: they represent the suffering, emotional damage or scars that resulted from trauma, loss, difficult changes in life or other experiences that have led you to consider counseling.  Because your experiences are unique to you, so are the ways they have impacted you.  You may be experiencing anxiety, sadness, depression, anger, shame, guilt, fear, confusion, betrayal, fear of abandonment, loneliness, worthlessness, and/or many other painful emotions.  You may even feel misunderstood, ignored and/or hopeless about your future.  You might even feel like you have been cast aside.  Psychotherapy offers a way to become whole again.

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Understanding that we all have been gifted with complex brains and minds, I tailor my approaches to psychotherapy based on your unique issues, needs and concerns throughout our work together (see menu to read more about my approaches to psychotherapy).  Because we counselors have our own personalities and styles, therapy can look and feel a little different with each counselor. 

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The first step in kintsugi is to gather all the pieces, each of which is unique and requires specific tools applied before any assembly of the pieces is possible.  Some pieces may need the sharp edges filed away so the finished piece has no weak spots.  As we work together to find what contributes to how you think, feel and behave,  I will provide a calm, confidential, safe, supportive, empathetic, genuine, accepting, objective, and non-judgmental space to share about yourself and your issues or concerns.  I am not afraid to listen to or help you process and work through past experiences or those you are currently going through that are awkward, painful, frightening, embarrassing, or difficult in any other way.  Maybe you haven’t had many, if any, people in your life who have been willing to listen to, understand or support you emotionally.  Be assured I have successfully worked with many people in extremely difficult circumstances.

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The kintsugi artist uses lacquer to fill the cracks, taking care to use the right tools to file the sharp and rough edges, polishing each layer as the pieces are reassembled.  In a similar manner, I will be paying close and careful attention to everything you share with me and the emotional effects they had on you.  I will carefully select techniques and tools from various approaches that will best enable you to process them.  For any pieces that are sharp and painful, I will be very patient, kind, and understanding about how it takes time to build trust in order to be able to share the more vulnerable areas of your life.  That means I let you choose what you want to talk about, and we will work together to file them down to ease the pain and connect each piece, layer by layer.  This process will enable us to learn and understand who you are and how you view yourself, others and the world, how it is impacting you now, and what is needed to improve your issues and concerns.  This will also help you to find themes or patterns and gain insight into all the pieces of yourself and how they fit together.  You are unique and may have many pieces and layers to you that need attended to in order to make you whole again. 

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The last part of the process in kintsugi involves highlighting the once cracked or broken pieces of pottery with gold to reveal uniqueness and beauty.  The gold represents the awareness you can gain about yourself through what our work together has brought to light to in order to process and work through that results in changes and healing for you and enables you to see yourself in a new and beautiful way.     

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It would be my honor and privilege to work with you and be part of your journey toward healing.  I will be there to help support you emotionally and to help you gain insight into your thoughts, feelings and behaviors in order to help you get to the root of your difficulties.  This can ultimately lead to achieving the goals you set to find healing through our work together in therapy.  I look forward to the opportunity to see the new piece of art you create within yourself!      

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