I consider myself an integrative, holistic, therapist. You might be asking, “What does that mean?” For me, it means several things. When I look at a person, I don’t see their lives as being compartmentalized, with areas of life being in different buckets. The different areas of our lives are all interconnected – so when we experience success, happiness or disappointment in one area of our life, it vibrates throughout the rest of us.
When people come to see me, we explore their careers, relationships, inner selves, and life style choices. All of these things can heavily influence one another, so it’s important not to see things in isolation. If someone is experiencing anxiety at work, there can be a combination of factors. Is the person drinking a bunch of caffeine in the morning or do they have a long commute? Is their career a poor fit and do they want to be doing something more fulling? Is their boss a jerk? This stuff may sound obvious, but it is surprising how often some of these things can be overlooked and only one area is looked at in isolation.
I also like to get to the root cause of what is causing a challenge in a person’s life. Utilizing different therapeutic approaches to strengthen the mind-body connection can really uncover and heal what is causing distress in someone’s life.
How did my philosophy come about? I started out as a human resource and career counseling professional and realized I was limited in how I could help. If someone came to my office for interview preparation but kept crying because they wanted to leave their marriage, we would still focus on the interview skills but I knew these deeper challenges were the ones to focus on. I would refer individuals to trusted therapists, but many times people wouldn't’t follow up or said they only wanted to work with one person.
I value real, authentic relationships and wanted to continue working on these core challenges along with smaller ones. I wanted true healing to take place, not just help clients manage symptoms or tolerate a situation. I went back to school and trained as a therapist. I started to see true healing taking place and I loved working at a much deeper level. I also realized the importance of including the mind-body connection and relationship counseling so therapy can have a long lasting impact.
I earned my Master in Counseling Education at Kean University, and my Master of Industrial Organizational Psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Additionally, I completed a post-master’s Educational Specialist degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at the College of New Jersey. I have also attended numerous trainings in the areas of EMDR, Gottman Couples Therapy, yoga, career development, and strengthening the mind-body connection.
Are you ready for integrative healing and holistic well-being? To learn more about me and my practice, please visit my website – CTIntegrativeCounseling.com.
