Services Provided
I provide individual counseling and educational services. Here are some of the specialized treatments I use to help my clients with their personal challenges:
Psychotherapy
I believe that success in therapy is based on the relationship an individual develops with himself or herself while working with a counselor. Short-term and long-term therapies are both available, depending on your individual needs. Short-term therapy can involve anywhere between three and eighteen sessions, whereas long-term therapy can involve 24 or more sessions. Participation in therapy is based on your individual needs and desires.
“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” -Mohandas Gandhi
EMDR Therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an eight-phase therapeutic process used to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mental health problems, somatic symptoms, and other psychiatric disorders. It has also been a powerful treatment for emotional difficulties and addiction issues and is recommended by trauma experts. EMDR has also been used to help improve academic, sports, and work performance.
EMDR works by addressing the root cause of PTSD and emotional difficulties: the faulty encoding and/or incomplete mental processing of traumatic or disturbing life experiences. Such encoding/processing issues can prevent individuals from coping constructively with their experiences.
EMDR can resolve these issues by facilitating normal information processing and integration. This eight-phase, three-pronged approach targets past experience, current triggers, and future potential challenges to alleviate symptoms of trauma or emotional difficulties, decrease or eliminate distress from disturbing memories, improve one’s view of the self, relieve bodily disturbances, and resolve present and future anticipated triggers. (adapted from EMDRIA.ORG, 2014).
As a certified EMDR therapist in north-central Florida, I can help you move past the pain of your past so you can live the life you want in the present.
“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way.”
― Les Brown
Internal Family Systems
At Reflections Counseling Services, we wholeheartedly embrace the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, an intricate and compassionate therapeutic framework designed by Dr. Richard Schwartz. In navigating the depths of this approach, we invite you to envision your inner world as a complex landscape teeming with various parts, akin to the characters in a play, each with its own distinctive role and voice. As skilled guides on this introspective journey, our therapists facilitate a comprehensive exploration of these parts, unraveling the layers of your psyche to reveal the nurturing core Self, the vigilant Managers, the reactive Firefighters, and the tender Exiles that harbor past wounds and vulnerabilities.
With the guiding principles of IFS, our therapeutic process unfolds with a delicate and considerate approach. We work collaboratively to create a safe space for the healing dialogue to transpire between your core Self and the wounded aspects of your internal ensemble. This transformative process involves gently tending to the emotional burdens carried by Exiles, acknowledging the positive intentions behind the protective strategies of Managers, and collaboratively exploring alternative avenues for Firefighters to meet their underlying needs without resorting to reactive behaviors.
The beauty of IFS lies not just in providing profound insights into your internal multiplicities but also in furnishing you with practical tools for self-leadership. By accessing your core Self, you embark on a journey towards cultivating a more harmonious and balanced internal experience. Throughout our therapeutic journey, we remain steadfast in offering consistent support, incorporating mindfulness practices to enhance self-awareness, and continually applying the principles of IFS. This ensures an enduring trajectory of healing, personal growth, and the cultivation of a profoundly healthier and more compassionate relationship with the intricate multiplicity within yourself.
Early Attachment Repair
Emotional difficulties and problems building healthy relationships with others can stem from attachment disorders – trauma caused by a failed or defective early bond between a primary caregiver and child, due to parental neglect, abuse, or other issues.
Attachment repair helps resolve these challenges by helping you access your implicit and explicit memories. Talk therapy is the standard method of working with explicit memories, and a simple, state-of-the-art variation of the EMDR protocol allows access to implicit memories. This technique, the Early Trauma Protocol developed in 2007 by Katie O'Shea, M.S., in collaboration with Sandra Paulsen, Ph.D, jump-starts your journey to recovery by healing early attachment injuries, trauma, guilt, shame, helplessness, and disappointments stemming from infancy and childhood. This implicit work can be completed in two to five full- or half-day sessions.
“The highest levels of performance come to people who are centered, intuitive, creative, and reflective - people who know to see a problem as an opportunity.”― Deepak Chopra
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback—Helping Your Brain Heal Itself
What is neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, medication-free healing therapy for conditions such as anxiety, ADHD, OCD, or insomnia. During neurofeedback sessions, you sit in a relaxed setting while watching your brain’s activity (represented by moving or changing images) on a computer monitor. Over time, this feedback conditions your brain to adjust itself to its optimal levels of stimulation and focus, freeing you from chronic symptoms without dangerous medications or surgery.
How does neurofeedback work?
Your body and brain naturally want to keep themselves healthy. But traumatic experiences can trigger your brain to operate at unhealthy levels—for instance, PTSD results when the brain becomes stuck in an abnormally high state of vigilance. Neurofeedback works by conditioning overactive or underactive brain areas—such as the areas controlling stress, fear, or sleep—to operate at their optimum levels. This conditioning results from your brain’s own response to visual, auditory and somatic stimuli from the neurofeedback program: You will see, hear and feel in real time when your brain is operating at a healthy level.
What to expect during your neurofeedback sessions
Your neurofeedback therapy begins with a conversation with a trained clinician about your condition, your symptoms, and your concerns. Next, you relax while sensors are painlessly attached to your scalp and connected to a computer, where a specialized program measures your brain’s EEG waves. The program, calibrated specifically to your individual symptoms and needs, displays varying images based on your brain’s activity—you will see in real time when your brain is operating at its optimal level. Over time, you automatically learn how to control the images that appear—and by doing so, naturally recalibrate your brain to operate at a healthy state.
Typically, about 20 to 40 sessions (45 minutes each) are needed for lasting, stable healing—but initial progress has been reported after as few as 5 sessions.
Why choose neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback has attracted mainstream research and many university labs in recent years because of its proven effectiveness and safety. Depending on your needs, neurofeedback may offer lasting relief on its own or be used along with other modalities of care, such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) or EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) among others.
Neurofeedback has numerous benefits for those concerned about their long-term well-being:
- It’s safe. Neurofeedback has no side effects and offers no risk of physical harm. The sensors lightly attached to your scalp during therapy are easily removed and transmit no current of any kind—the only electrical impulses involved is that generated by your own brain as you watch the images during your session.
- It’s drug-free. While medications for mental conditions have their place, they are all too often overused. Moreover, many such medications have unintended side effects that can negatively impact your quality of life. Neurofeedback offers a drug-free alternative that doesn’t just suppress the symptoms that you are experiencing, it engages your bodies natural healing to resolve the underlying causes.
- It’s simple and natural. Neurofeedback works because it simply retrains your brain to work as originally intended. Your sessions are relaxing and stress-free, and no conscious effort is required on your part—as your brain responds to the video feed during your sessions, it automatically recalibrates itself to a healthier state.
You deserve to enjoy your best life, and neurofeedback is a safe, effective therapy to help you get there. As a National Certified Counselor licensed in Florida and South Dakota, I can help you assess whether neurofeedback is the most effective course of treatment for you.
Below is a link to a video that my colleague and mentor, Mike Cohen, made describing neurofeedback:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxHR7InSQ1c&t=84s
Grief and loss
It is difficult to lose someone close to us, whether it is through a divorce, a move or loss of life. Working through the pain associated with this grief and loss can help to keep the positive aspects of a relationship alive in our heart and soul.
“Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?” ― Mary Manin Morrissey
Depression
I work with you to help change automatic negative thinking and behavioral patterns associated with depression, while identifying and working through the root of those patterns. Techniques used are always client-centered and healing focused, while recognizing that each individual possesses the inner resources necessary to effectively deal with the situation. The key is finding just the right help in bringing those resources to surface.
“Your life is what your thoughts make it.” -Marcus Aurelius
Psychotherapy
At Reflections Counseling Services, LLC we believe that success in therapy is based on the relationship an individual develops with himself or herself while working with a counselor. We offer short term and long term therapies based on an individual’s need. Short term therapy can involve anywhere between three and eighteen sessions, whereas long term therapy can involve 24 or more sessions. Participation in therapy is based on an individual’s needs and desires.
“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” -Mohandas Gandhi
Anxiety and Stress
Life can be stressful – and if left unchecked, heavy stress can lead to further emotional and physical complications. Everyone needs someone to talk to, someone willing to listen without judgment or preconceived notions. A therapist offers an unbiased ear that hears you and genuinely cares about helping you find solutions to reduce life’s anxieties and stressors, whether they stem from work, family, society, or interpersonal conflicts.
"A mistake in judgment isn't fatal, but too much anxiety about judgment is." -Pauline Kael
Anger Management
Anger has two sides: It can help or harm, or be healthy or unhealthy. If you struggle with anger, you know its effects. Unfortunately, you may not be aware of the hurtful emotions underlying your anger – while difficult to perceive, they can make your situation worse by making you feel bad about yourself. Working through the events driving these underlying painful emotions can help reduce the anger they trigger. Once you understand these events, you’ll be able to learn more appropriate responses to manage your anger.
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” -Buddha
Addiction
I work with you to identify the resources you require to live a life free from the chains of addiction, no matter what form they take. It is my belief that earlier events in life help create a compulsive need for drugs, alcohol, sex, work, food, or other crutches, which can often lead to dangerous consequences. Working through these early events to release the painful emotions attached to them can bring you freedom from the constraints of addiction.
“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” -William James
Career Counseling
We work with you to identify and resolve whatever may be holding you back from achieving the success you want in life. This can range from working through the emotional blocks preventing you from achieving desired outcomes to creating a plan to lead you to your desired success.
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ― Mark Twain
