Question 1

How is therapy at Whole Life Counseling different from "regular" talk therapy?

Accepted Answer

Many clients start working with me because they've tried everything and still aren't "better." They are tired of just talking about their problems and want to know how to actually change them. While traditional talk therapy focuses on insight and your past, we focus on skill acquisition. I use structured, evidence-based protocols to not only help you recognize your stuck points, but also to teach you practical skills to help you develop the "life worth living" you desire outside of my office.
While clients might stay in traditional talk therapy for years or even decades, many of my weekly clients spend 6 months to a year in treatment before successfully "graduating" from therapy or titrating down to occasional "maintenance" check-ins.

Question 2

How fast can I expect to feel better?

Accepted Answer

While long-term behavioral change takes time and every client's journey is different, many of my clients begin to experience relief in the first few sessions. By learning practical skills to take out of the session and into your everyday life, you can learn to take control of your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors more quickly than endlessly talking about them. My goal is to move you from "crisis" to "I got this" as efficiently as possible.

Question 3

What modalities do you use?

Accepted Answer

I use active, behavioral treatments including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Trauma-Informed Exposure protocols. These are not intangible, vague approaches; they are scientific frameworks designed to change how your brain responds to stress, triggers, and relationships.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) helps individuals work towards reducing distress, mindlessness, and overpowering emotional reactions. It also aims to improve our relationships with others and ourselves through changing unhelpful behavior patterns.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is effective in treating lots of mental health conditions by identifying unhelpful thought patterns you have, and then learning more effective ways of thinking to change our emotional and behavioral responses.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) aims to help you accept the kinds of things are out of your control and commit to actions that will help you to move toward a meaningful and values-driven life.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) helps you to recognize and address all of the different aspects of your thinking, emotional, and behavioral patterns, thereby reducing internal conflict, and fostering self-compassion.
Trauma-Informed therapy is a lens through which I view my clients, taking into account the impact of trauma on emotions, regulation, and behavior, and considering the effects of intergenerational trauma. For trauma processing, I use evidence-based, exposure-based protocols including Written Exposure Therapy (WET), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and DBT-Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE).

Frequently Asked Questions

How is therapy at Whole Life Counseling different from "regular" talk therapy?

How fast can I expect to feel better?

What modalities do you use?