Holistic & Faith-Based Therapy
The issues we are dealing with always have a root cause. Current negative emotional reactions and patterns are often the result of our responses to negative experiences or trauma in our life history. When we experience suffering without the emotional resources to manage it on our own, our creative minds work to solve the problem. These “solutions” (like anxiety, addictions, or shutting off emotions) then become negative patterns in our lives that continue when we no longer need them. In addition, some of our issues are generational, and many of our problems have a spiritual component, and these need to be addressed for full healing. Jesus came to set us free in spirit, soul, and body, and I partner with him in my work with clients for spiritual freedom where it is needed.
My job as your therapist is to work with you to find the root of your current concern, then help you to rewire your body, soul, and spirit to align with the truth - to bring peace and resolution to your past, and joy and wellbeing to your present.
I use the following therapies in my practice:
Splankna Therapy
Splankna Therapy is an inner healing therapy protocol that addresses spirit, soul, and body when dealing with each issue. When negative experiences happen in our lives, the results can be belief in a lie, or a jaded lens through which we now see the world. These beliefs, and the negative emotions from the experience, all get stored in our subconscious (our thoughts and memories), and our bodies. Splankna Therapy is a modality that allows Jesus to heal us emotionally and spiritually from destructive patterns and negative emotional reactions that have come from bad memories and trauma we’ve experienced in our lives.
In the Splankna protocol, we partner with God in prayer, and use muscle response testing to access these stored memories. We can test for when negative memories occurred, what emotions got stuck at the time of the trauma, and where the body is holding these stored emotions. We then use this information to release negative emotions from our past. Through prayer we also release the negative beliefs we took on as a result of trauma. As we access and heal the root cause of our symptoms, what follows is healing in the present – emotional, spiritual, and even physical healing for issues that have an emotional source.
Somatic & Emotion-Focused Parts Work
In our work together, each time you come to therapy, something is ready to be healed! Our present, in-the-moment experience holds clues to healing.
Using somatic (body-focused) techniques, parts work (in the style of Internal Family Systems/IFS) and connection to Jesus (Immanuel Approach), I guide clients in finding the roots of current negative patterns. We use your present emotions (e.g. anxiety, sadness, overwhelm) and your body cues (like tension, pain, tightness) to discover what is ready to be healed in your session. In this process, we engage the inner "parts" of your soul - the memories and emotions - and the corresponding body cues with curiosity and kindness. We invite these parts to communicate what you need for healing in that space.
We also invite Jesus into your memories, and the places that hold trauma and the causes of your current issues. As you experience and connect with Jesus, trauma is healed, and in addition, gifts and positive emotions that were blocked by that trauma get released and become integrated into your true self.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is another therapeutic tool for healing trauma. This modality is based on the concept that when experiences are overwhelming, they often go unprocessed and get “stuck” in our nervous systems, causing reactivity and hypervigilance or numbing and dissociation, negative thoughts and beliefs, and other behaviors that hinder our wellbeing and connection with others.
In EMDR, the client engages in bilateral stimulation as they process the thoughts, feelings, and body sensations that stem from a negative memory. Bilaterals can be side-to-side eye movements, tapping back and forth on the knees, or holding small devices that buzz back and forth from your left hand to your right hand. Guided by the therapist, clients process through the memory until they no longer feel high levels of distress.
In my practice, EMDR can be used both as a comprehensive therapeutic approach, or as an interwoven intervention used to process specific memories, feelings, or sensations that feel “stuck.”
Holistic Therapy Approaches vs. “Talk Therapy”
The therapy approaches I offer are not considered “talk therapy” and will be different from the traditional counseling experience. While we will certainly talk with each other throughout your sessions (relational connection is integral to healing!), the approaches I use go to the root of your concerns, and these often aren’t in your cognitive awareness (meaning they can’t necessarily be discovered by talking). The roots of your issues may be from early childhood or be generational, or from an incident that doesn’t feel significant to you now, but was foundational to your current problem. You can receive healing faster by working with your present emotions and experience, and by using holistic methods that move more directly to when and where your problems took hold.
In general, the talking part of our sessions will be focused on creating relational connection and safety, how you are currently experiencing your concerns, and the relevant history around them. That’s all we need to move into healing!