Individual Therapy
My approach to therapy is grounded in social justice and anti-oppression, and guided by narrative, feminist, and somatic experiencing frameworks. In individual therapy, this looks like me being curious about the meanings you give to your experiences and choices, supporting your connection with your body and nervous system, and always positioning you as the expert of your life.
“Narrative therapy seeks to be a respectful, non-blaming approach to counselling and community work which centres people as the experts in their own lives. It views problems as separate from people and assumes people have many skills, competencies, beliefs, values, commitments and abilities that will assist them to reduce the influence of problems in their lives.”
- The Dulwich Centre
Each therapeutic relationship is different.
That means the structure of sessions will vary. There are, however, are a few things that I do with each person I’m working with:
Prior to our first session together, I will send you an electronic contract to complete and sign. Don’t hesitate to ask questions as you’re reviewing it.
During our first session, I’ll ask you what has brought you to see me, and we’ll explore and define what you want to look at during our time together.
I leave it to you to decide how often it would be helpful to meet with me and we can book a recurring appointment time or you can book appointments as needed and as works with your schedule. I’ve found that when people first start working with a new therapist, they find it helpful to meet a bit more frequently (weekly or bi-weekly) to get some momentum going, but you will get a sense of what is too often or not frequent enough for you.
As a somatic therapist, I will often ask if it feels okay to notice and invite your body and nervous system into the therapy room.
I will take a lot of notes to make sure I understand how you define your experiences. You are welcome to see, contribute to, revise, and have your own copies of these notes anytime.
A huge component of Narrative Therapy is separating the person from the problem through a practice called externalizing. When we have externalizing conversations, you’ll hear me asking you about how you named the problem, its history in your life and your family, what it’s like to share your days with the problem, how it tries to convince you to behave, the beliefs it holds, times the problem has had more or less influence on you, and what your preferred relationship with it is.
Another big part of narrative therapy is written materials. When we begin working together, I will ask for your permission to sometimes send you notes or questions in the form of emails or letters between sessions. On occasion, we may also agree to create written materials together such as letters, notices, certificates, and declarations. These materials are for you to do with as you please!
I will regularly check in with you about how you’re feeling about the work we’re doing. Are we talking about things that are relevant to you? Does the pace feel right? Is our approach making a difference? We will shift how we’re working together accordingly; it’s YOUR therapy, after all!