My Approach to Helping
I am passionate about listening to your story. In a caring, nonjudgmental, empathetic atmosphere, I will focus on understanding and accurately assessing the problem. I will help guide your discussions and deliver helpful, objective suggestions without assuming too much control. Therapy is a process where you discover yourself, triggers, unused potentials, and tap into strengths you did not even know you have. My purpose is to get you unstuck, satisfied, confident, emotionally intelligent and not afraid to face life. it is a process where you learn how to be connected to others but at the same time teaches you what to do to stay protected from others and sometimes from yourself (old unhealthy habits). Working with you will help you identify themes in your story, whether they are feelings (depression, anxiety, hurt), or thoughts (negative self-talk), or behavior (controlling others, avoiding intimacy, blaming others, overwork) or experiences (being a victim, punished, ignored, picked on) or some combination of these, Considering my age, 57, my experiences in life, and my education, I will be delivering educated hunches that can help you make connections that will provide insights or perspectives to enable you to move forward. You will be able to see more clearly what you might be expressing indirectly, or have overlooked. This results in logical conclusions to your situation which will lead to a deeper understanding of your issue. Awareness is the first step to change and growth. I think to every problem there is a key, together we will discover the key to yours.
More Info About My Practice
My practice is private, confidential, relaxing and easy to find. Please check images.
I use Cognitive Behavioral therapy as well as a solution-focused approach.
My Role as a Therapist
As a therapist, I will work on having an unconditional positive regard, accurate empathy, and genuineness. I will help you understand yourself, liberate your resources, and manage your life more effectively. Together we will develop a working alliance, collaborating between you and myself, based on an agreement on your goals and what you need to achieve. I will be there to support you and encourage you in a respectful atmosphere.
This relationship can be therapeutic. It is often a tool for social-emotional relearning. as a result, you can start gaining perspective that I care, trust you, and am willing to take the risk of challenging you. You will think "I was frightened to start but now I cherish coming to the sessions."
How My Own Struggles Made Me a Better Therapist
Looking back at my life, I know that everything I went through helped in making me the therapist I am now.
I lost my mother when I was 24 years old and she was 49. That taught me to value life at a much deeper level and understand what others might be going through as a result of a loss of a loved one, took away from me the sense of entitlement, being grateful about every moment, and turning my complaints into goals was another strength that I gained.
Going to medical school, being a medical doctor, and working as a physician helped me understand the organic piece of the human body. Although it was not a struggle but a privilege to go to medical school, it taught me discipline, endurance, compassion and wider knowledge that adds to my process of caring for others in the therapeutic relationship. I believe that sometimes an off-balance in the physical health can be a cause for emotional problems.
I immigrated to the united states in 1987. Leaving my comfort zone and my family and starting a new life was challenging but taught me flexibility, openness to new possibilities, expanded and tapped into potentials that I did not use before, increased my ability to interact with new people and accept and appreciate differences in others. I learned to accept change, instead of focusing on what I lost. I appreciate what I'm gaining as a result of it.
After 22 years of living in Cleveland, Ohio, we had to move again to Houston, Texas for my husband's work. This move was even harder than immigration. I experienced loss at a much deeper level. After going through all stages of grief, this move brought me to a much better understanding of what my purpose in life is. Most importantly brought me closer to God and my Journey with Him. All my experiences helped me understand and be empathetic to people experiencing their own challenges.
I can help them go through their challenge thinking differently and managing it in a much easier way than I did, They will come out of it stronger and unbroken, and that is my goal.
