The reasons that individuals seek out psychotherapy are as diverse as the people who are seeking the treatment. Psychotherapy provides support to address relational, behavioral, and emotional struggles that individuals encounter throughout life, as well as to assist with emotional exploration and reduction of painful symptoms. Whether these struggles include feelings of depression or anxiety, are related to major life transitions, relational struggles, grief and loss, or traumatic events; psychotherapy can help individuals to explore the meaning in their lives, create balance in relationships, and reduce the impact of emotions and environmental influences on an individual’s functioning. Many psychological difficulties are rooted in relationships. These may be current relationships or past relationships that still have significant impact on our lives and the way in which we interact with and see the world. Problems often happen in the context of our relationship to others. This may be in how we perceive ourselves in comparison to others, ways in which we interact with people, the roles that we assume in relationships, or how relationships influence our sense of identity. Our approach to psychotherapy is a relational and collaborative process where we utilize a supportive and non-judgmental stance to develop a relationship with an individual, couple, or family to help explore current and past experiences or stressors. An integral part of the therapeutic process is working collaboratively to develop goals for the treatment, identify the hopes that a person holds, and develop an understanding of how we may work together to address these goals. The approach of treatment will depend on the issues that are presented.

In this process we work to fully understand a person, what motivates him or her, and to understand the positive and problematic aspects of lives. We utilize an approach that identifies personal strengths and utilizes these strengths to develop coping resources to handle the demands of daily life and relationships. Whether an individual is coming to therapy to solve a specific problem or is desiring personal exploration; psychotherapy can help a person to develop insight, build coping skills, reduce painful feelings, deepen relationships, and build communication skills. Individuals’ self-perception and worldviews are influenced by many cultural and societal factors. The values and philosophies of life that an individual holds are imperative to respect and understand in the psychotherapeutic process. We approach therapy relationships with genuine curiosity and openness, and seek to develop trust within the relationship that can foster open communication. Inclusion of personal spirituality and culture may be an important part of the psychotherapy process, and we work with people to find meaning in the framework of their own belief system.