Life presents us with many challenges and transitions along the way. Every major change in life is a passage. As human beings we create, change and grow every day.  Each passage we encounter can be an opportunity to heal. Sometimes we come to a crossroads in life where we need help. Someone to listen, someone to guide, someone to help us through change and help us to heal the wounds from the past, go deeper into the meaning of life, find renewed strength, open to intimacy, and realize our fullest potential. With practice, listening, understanding, and guidance, counseling can be the answer to guiding us through life's transitions.

 

Coaching work is about learning to use the tools and resources that we have within us to create change and desired outcomes in our lives. Working with a coach can help individuals and families resolve personal and life issues with a trained listener. Using creative and experiential processes can help to work through issues that come up during the therapeutic relationship.

 

My clients are children, teens, and adults, military veterans, college students, families, and couples. While talk therapy is essential and having a place to share and feel comfortable doing so is of most importance, I also utilize experiential and creative therapies for healing and personal discovery. My work is not centered in art therapy but in discovering creative and meaningful solutions for clients to open and discover their own unique personal expression.

 

s a coach, you will challenge your client. You will clarify what your client wants and take the time to find out what success in life means to them. You assist your client in clarifying their vision and the steps to get there, and helping them to discover a life of development and accomplishment, both personally and professionally.  

As a coach you sponsor your clients towards the ownership of skill-sets that encourage and support him or her to increase productivity, productiveness, and effectiveness. The International Coach Federation (ICF) defines coaching as:   “…partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential, which is particularly important in today’s uncertain and complex environment. Coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach's responsibility is to:  

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve

• Encourage client self-discovery

• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies

• Hold the client responsible and accountable

This process helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on work and life, while improving their leadership skills and unlocking their potential.” [Reference: ICF FAQ]  

The Difference Between Coaching and Counselling

CoachingCounselling

Future-focusedPast-focused

Solution-focusedProblem-focused

Works towards outcomesWorks towards emotions

Does not give adviceGives advice and recommendations

Asks the question “How can we change?”Asks the question “Why should we change?”

The client has the answers – assisted to find their own solutionsThe counsellor has the answers – gives diagnosis and treatment

Backtracking – using client language and tone to recap important words or phrasesParaphrasing – restatement of a statement or text using other words

While it is important to note that these professions are different in a number of ways, there is no reason to suggest that one is better than the other or that they cannot coexist. In fact, there may be certain occasions where an individual feels they need the services of one and are referred to the other for more suitable services. In addition, many coaches were once counsellors and many counsellors have knowledge of coaching practices.   What might be some other differences that you understand about these two professions?

The work that I do with my clients with expressive, experiential and creative therapies, and energy psychology work is considered to be a Mind/Body/Spirit approach to therapy or what is called Somatic Psychotherapy. I use creative sources and pathways to assist in opening and shifting one to new awareness and insight. The work is holistic and intuitively guided, working toward practical solutions for change and awareness. Creative therapies include art, play, music, journaling, intuitive and body-centered processes such as Color Therapy, Guided Imagery, and Chakra Balancing. I guide clients to fully explore and express feelings, concerns, and challenges. The goal is to discover personal solutions for lasting change and understanding. 

 

Somatic Experience

 

When someone experiences overwhelming trauma, the natural ability to flow between the calmness of everyday reality and the urgency of fight and flight becomes “stuck.” People can then experience constant anger or anxiety, even though there is no apparent reason for this, or have difficulty becoming motivated about anything and become depressed, although the reality of their lives has much to offer. Somatic Experiencing provides people with the ability to become more resilient, tapping into the healthy defense mechanisms that anger-fight and fear-flight are meant to be. A healthy autonomic nervous system then allows one to return to the calm clarity of everyday existence, restful sleep, and enjoyment in everyday activities, as well as healthy intimacy.

 

When I work with my clients, I often make energy work available, so that the body suffering from emotional dysregulation can more deeply experience where it holds tension and related trauma. As well, the therapeutic use of touch is a powerful force for healing, assisting in the release of important neurotransmitters and the reduction of stress hormones that allow the mind to function more effectively.

 

Spirituality and Mindfulness

 

Spirituality in all of its aspects is always honored as an important element in my clients’ healing paths. While I have received training in Transpersonal Psychology, Reiki, Guided Imagery, Meditation, and other techniques, I have found that one’s own unique spirituality can be tapped, enhancing one’s experience of, and connection to, the world. I have traveled much of my life and lived in many unique places, the Middle East, Israel, Russia, all throughout Europe and throughout the U.S. I am highly aware and understanding of the diversity and special qualities each and every person brings to the therapeutic process. Spiritual trauma, experienced for example when one has been brought up in a dogmatic and shaming household, can often keep one from tapping into the infinite supply of healing energy available to us. (Re)discovering this resource is, I believe, one of the kindest gifts we can give ourselves. My clients start with learning how to ground themselves, then venture into a series of mindfulness exercises designed to allow them to slow down and build tolerance for exploring the distress inside. This tolerance and the increased insight and self-compassion that attend it, are eased by one’s own increasing awareness of his or her spiritual resources, both internal and external. Ultimately, it is joyous work.

 

WHICH IS BEST FOR YOU... REIKI OR STANDARD PSYCHOTHERAPY?
 

Although a few of my clients utilize Reiki healing and psychotherapy, I’ve found it best to start with one or the other, in order to establish as clear and safe a therapeutic relationship as possible. If you are unclear about where you shouldstart, explore the following questions to ascertain which is right for you:

1. I have a very hard time talking about my thoughts and feelings.

2. I tend to be intellectual, seeking reason and logic rather than exploring feelings.

3. I don’t know what’s wrong with my life, I just know it’s not working for me.

4. I don’t need to change, others around me do

5. When I’m anxious or stressed, I feel it all through my body.

6. I believe I’m pretty aware of what’s making me tick, and have a strong sense of what’s troubling me.

7. I feel the need to be touched in a caring, non-sexual way.

8. When people touch me, it makes me uncomfortable.

9. I’m interested in exploring multiple modalities, including alternative and complimentary treatments.

10. I trust more in Western medicine and treatment; I’m not comfortable with or don’t think alternative treatments would be as effective.

11. I need to touch, and otherwise physically explore, in order to learn a new skill; I learn best by doing, rather than sitting in a classroom.

12. In classrooms or other learning situations, I do well by visually absorbing and listening to new information.

13. My life is going fairly well, and feel generally satisfied – I’m just a little stressed.

14. Even when my life seems to be going well (if at all) I’m unsatisfied and distressed.

15. I’m having difficulty sleeping, but my appetite is OK (or vice-versa).

16. I’m having difficulty sleeping, my appetite is not good (or I’m overeating), and have little or no pleasure in my life.

 

If you agreed more with odd answers than even answers, consider bodywork as an option for you. If you found more agreement with even answers, psychotherapy might be the better course. 

 

In a peaceful, welcoming and therapeutic environment, Creative Hearts Counseling offers a place for self-discovery, expression, and personal exploration. We focus on active approaches to change. Considered Mind/Body approaches, we utilize experiential therapies to connect the mind, emotions, body and spirit and focus on the total person. The holistic process  integrates all as unified and not separate. Talk and communication are counseling essentials. The exploration of our creative processes such as writing, art, music, nature walks and being in the sunshine, gardening, cooking and even taking care of our homes, can be very important to the process of understanding who we are, exploring our needs, hopes and desires, and looking at what life means to us.

 

Some of the life events that bring clients in to see me: 

 

• Finding New Purpose

• Creativity

• Spiritual Growth

• Life Transition and Career Change

• Loss of Meaning

• Loss and Bereavement 

• Adolescence 

• Depression and Anxiety 

• Low Self-Esteem 

• Mid-Life Transition

• Sexual, Physical or Emotional Abuse 

• Substance Abuse 

• Marriage and Relationship Crisis 

• Conflict Resolution

• Individual, Couples and Family Sessions 

 

I work with adults, couples and families, integrating story telling, family mapping, illustrating music, visual  journaling, play for children, your creative process and many other guided techniques to assist your path to personal awareness and healing .and

I am deeply committed to creative approaches and holistic therapeutic models of counseling for children, teens

 

I am a registered Psychotherapist in the state of Colorado and a Certified Reiki Practitioner.

 

Professional Memberships:

AHP - Association of Humanistic Psychology

REIKI HEALING ASSOCIATION

International Association of Reiki Professionals