When you work with me, we go straight to the heart.
The heart represents the whole person, the place where all dimensions of our being intersect. It is also difficult to understand and change. While the heart is a place of intuition, desire, and will, it is also a place of feeling and memory. In my opinion, many counseling approaches that try to teach you something, such as rational thinking, new behaviors, mindfulness, or relationship skills, ultimately fail to give you what really matters: change within.
My approach asks a different question:
What is keeping you FROM rational thinking, new behaviors, mindfulness, or relationship skills?
Most of the time, the answer lies deep within your subconscious, in your store of memories. While research has shown a statistical effect supporting the benefit of various therapies, the most rapid and effective therapy finds and processes unresolved memories, or systems of memories (termed memory reconsolidation in the literature). Specific therapies include Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), the Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy (DNMS), and Internal Family Systems (IFS). These seek to change the way memories are stored in the brain, or the way neural networks associated with different mindsets work together (or in conflict!).
For those who are wondering, these therapies are Catholic-friendly. When set within the Catholic worldview, and combined with our incredibly rich resources of faith, prayer, and the sacraments, the brain-based work of these approaches can become something more: lasting change within the depths of the heart.
Interested to find out more? Whether you are seeking personal or couples counseling, ask me about how a healing of memories approach to therapy can help you grow in virtue, and better fulfill your vocation.
