Ready to start therapy but COVID-19 has you too nervous to come in person?
Feel like your anxiety and worry thoughts about the pandemic are taking an increasingly negative toll on your sense of self?
Are you missing your loved ones and a sense of connection to others so much that loneliness is the major headline of your day?
Is your financial picture ok for now but you’re uncertain how much longer this will last?
You may be feeling disconnected from yourself, spacey, numbed-out and/or experiencing tension and discomfort in your body that wasn’t there before.
These are deeply vulnerable times. Feeling safe in the world may feel like a distant dream. And without a sense of safety and certainty, our mental, emotional, and physical health suffers.
You Are Not Alone in This.
It may feel like the whole world is falling apart. If you’ve been experiencing overwhelm, shut-down, helplessness, deep uncertainty and/or just feeling totally out of it, let me normalize this for you.
It is normal to feel everything you’re feeling! We are all in a collective state of trauma and the symptoms you are experiencing are exactly that- traumatic.
The good news is that we are here to help you get through these historic and intense times. We want therapy to be easily accessible to you from the comfort of your own home so that you don’t have to deal with yet another stressor in your life.
Online Therapy Can Help You Move Towards Ease, Acceptance and Meaning in This Confusing Time
While we support social distancing, it can also lead to increased loneliness, worry, and stress. It is so important to feel a sense of connectedness in daily life. When you are meaningfully connected to others, your stress levels go down, your immune system response improves, and your sense of self feels more solid.
Having a trusted and well-trained therapist can help you learn how to better take care of yourself, increase self-awareness so you can make healthier choices and discover new and effective skills to help you stay grounded and calm.
What to Expect from On-Line Therapy
We prefer to do video sessions with clients so that we can see your face and body to make observations and help you tune into what’s happening internally.
We use a HIPAA compliant video platform to ensure confidentiality. All you need as a phone, tablet or computer with a camera and an internet connection. If you live with people, we also recommend doing on-line sessions behind locked doors or putting a sign on the door, as well as using headphones.
Additionally, make sure that your space is as comfortable and as pleasing and soothing as possible. We suggest having a drink nearby, a comfy place to sit, your journal and a pen to take notes and any pillows or blankets you may need to be even more at ease in your body. If possible, having space to move around is also helpful.
Should you decide that you would like to come in to see your therapist, you also have the option of doing a mixture of on-line or in-person sessions.
Treatment Approaches Done On-line
Nervous system education and self-regulation skill building
Learning how to tell where you are on your nervous system “map” is empowering information that increases self-awareness as well as a sense of empowerment. Once you gain understanding of your triggers and patterned responses in the body, you can start to build self-regulation skills that harness the power of your biology to help you come back into balance.
Somatic Therapy
Is about enlisting your body as an ally in the healing process. Our therapists are trained in Somatic Experiencing and Sensorimotor psychotherapy. These approaches help you learn the language of your body, help you be more effective and responsive in getting your needs met, increase resilience, and befriend your body. These methods also help you sense more into your body through tracking sensations, impulses, physiological shifts, tension patterns, your five senses and how your thoughts impact the experience in your body.
Internal Family Systems
Is an approach to psychotherapy that identifies and addresses multiple “parts” or families within each person’s psyche. These “parts” of yourself, aka as sub-personalities, consist of wounded parts, rescuer parts and manager parts stemming from deeply unmet needs. This approach helps you to strengthen your Higher or Wisest Self and unblend from parts that may be running the show in ways that don’t work for you.
Mindfulness Training
Is the foundation for all transformation to occur. Without awareness, positive shifts cannot occur. Through the use of guided visualization, body-based awareness practices and your therapist helping you to slow down and observe your internal experience, we help you to strengthen what’s called your “Observer Self” so that you can move out of old patterns of thoughts and behaviors that no longer serve you.
Perhaps you are considering on-line therapy but have more questions…
Is on-line therapy as effective as in person?
Some people really like on-line therapy because they don’t have to battle traffic and get to be in the comfort of their own home. Given COVID-19, we also support people practicing social distancing as much as possible. The skills and the education that we offer our clients can be easily practiced and learned while using a video platform.
How long will treatment take?
The simple answer is that it will take less time the more you practice the skills and mindset shifts that you will learn in sessions.
Do you accept insurance?
We do not accept insurance currently. However, if you are looking for reimbursement, we can provide you with the appropriate documentation to submit. We also encourage you to contact your insurance provider to confirm what your benefits are with “out of network providers.”
Do I have to be on video?
No, you don’t have to do the session by video, we just prefer it because we think it will be more effective for you if we can see at least the upper part of your body. If you prefer to do sessions over the phone, we will accommodate your preference.
You can find ease and peace during these intense times.
If it sounds like Somatic Therapy Partners would be a good fit, schedule your first session.
There is so much love for you here!