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Psychotherapy and Trauma Resolution
The therapeutic relationship itself has been shown to be the strongest factor in healing, and my office on The Hill in St. Louis is a warm, safe and gentle place in which to establish that relationship. Also, the methods that a therapist uses can make a big difference in how far healing gets.* What's held in the body must be addressed, and the deeper self of the unconscious must be engaged. This is how our strongest, deepest, innate healing systems are activated. I use the following methods, in which I have received formal training, to address anxiety and trauma that is held in the body and the unconscious. 
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Somatic Experiencing® (SE™)
SE is a gentle experiential method of resolving trauma, healing form Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and other mental, emotional, and physical health challenges that are held in the body. 

SE does not require talking about the traumatic experience(s). In fact, it's not even necessary to remember the trauma, since SE works with what is held in the body, as felt in the here and now.

There is a "mindfulness" component to SE that fits very well with the Buddhist and Advitic mindfulness training I had before training in SE, in that we practice noticing what's present in the body, letting go of attachment to the thoughts, and being present in the moment. However, it is very important that I make clear that part of this work is understanding that the body, even the present moment can be a frightening place those of us with trauma (even if we don't remember it), and I meet each person where they are at, right now. At first, being present may be a simple as noticing the room. There is no right or wrong in this work, and each person begins where they are at on each day they arrive. We will progress as we go, at your pace.

I have completed one year of Somatic Experiencing (SE) training.

Learn more about SE here.

EMDR
"EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.  Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference" (source). I am a fully trained EMDR Therapist. This amazing method, which is endorsed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the World Health Organization, US Department of Health and Human Services, and others, in a highly effective tool for resolving trauma.

I am a fully trained EMDR Therapist.

​Learn more about EMDR here.

Click here to see my
Statement of Inclusion

I'm a member of the Breathe Network

Depth, Archetypal
We are a part of nature and the land, of the deep and ancient stories that live in it, whether we know it consciously or not. When we become separated from our sense of place, nature, and the land, we become separated from ourselves, as well. 

In depth work we:

• Explore your dreams.
• Connect to ancient myths, stories, and "fairy tales" (if you have doubts about how profound that can be, check this out).
• Begin to notice the synchronicities between dreams, nature, and what waking life presents.
• Explore the role of shadow in the work, so that we may come into balance with light and shadow, ease and difficulty, and remove ourselves from the "cult of positivity" that is damaging to so many, since it's impossible to be human and never have pain and struggle.
  
  Besides Carl Jung (the obvious one), I am influenced in this aspect of my work by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Donald Kalsched, Jean Shinoda Bolen, and Sharon Blackie, as well as the Jungian therapist/analyst with whom I have done my own work for many years, Shirley Fontenot. I am a member of the St. Louis Jung Society. ​​

Image Copyright (c) Pearl, 2016

*Many people report that they hit a wall in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy* (CBT), even with a very good therapist with whom they enjoy working. This may be because there are pieces of what we've all been through that simply cannot be resolved by talking and adjusting our thoughts. Similarly, many people report that their post-trauma or anxiety symptoms get worse at some point in Prolonged Exposure Therapy**, which is a commonly used method that requires telling the traumatic story over and over again as a form of desensitization. As the great trauma researcher and humanitarian Bessel Van der Kolk has said, desensitization is not healing. In SE, EMDR, and in the Depth therapy I practice we do not ask to tell the story over and over again. We know how to work in ways that are meant to cause as little distress as possible. Of course, sometimes therapy can be hard work. But it should not be retraumatizing.