What is Psychotherapy?

Clients often ask what they should expect from therapy. This can sometimes be a difficult question to answer, as I tailor my approach and focus to the needs of each individual. What therapy looks like for one client might be quite different from another client. However, you can expect me to work with you to jointly identify core concerns and begin to address those from the first session.

Generally speaking, here are some areas Transmute Therapy often helps clients address:

Developing greater awareness, understanding and expression of emotions
Understanding how early life experiences affect your present-day behaviors and relational patterns
Identifying unconscious (automatic) thoughts, drives and beliefs that influence your decision-making
Identifying unhelpful thought patterns and working to replace them with more helpful, balanced responses
Developing effective coping strategies
Practicing specific interventions aimed at targeted behaviors, impulses or defenses
Finding meaning in your past experiences that helps you engage in your present and future in an intentional and authentic way

You are the expert on your life, so we will work collaboratively together to understand you, your unique story and your therapeutic needs.

There are a lot of stereotypes + stigma when it comes to therapy and mental health services. I honor and value my ability to support and serve therapy participants AND acknowledge the power differential that creates lack of safety for participants, and the hierarchy that oppresses and has the potential to harm participants. There is a lot about Western Mental Health that doesn't work and continues to play a role in a broken system; it is individualistic, patriarchal, pathologizing and oppressive. As I continue to evaluate, reflect on and work towards my role in decolonizing therapy and changing the way participants experience it, I am open to and welcome feedback on my approach and engagement in the support I provide.

Therapy is only one of many paths towards healing, and ultimately, many of the theoretical approaches that exist were created by cisgendered white men to uphold a system of power and dominance. If you choose for me to be part of your healing journey, I want to honor ancestral roots, the role of continuous cultural and historical trauma, and the helpful contributions and wisdom of your culture and heritage. I believe that individuals have the innate power to heal themselves with and without the support of therapy and believe each person is their own expert in knowing what they need intuitively to move towards healing. With this in mind, some elements I wish to offer in my practice include:

A continued effort to educate myself on the history of individuals, groups and organizations I may serve, and how their histories may impact their world view and nervous systems
A continued effort to reflect on how my own history and personal experiences may impact or minimize a therapy participants experience, or feel like 'gatekeeping'
A holistic view of one's symptoms or expressions of behaviors, taking into account a person's whole self (i.e. mind, body, spirit, family, community, ancestry, and trauma), rather than focusing on clinical codes and diagnosis
A collaborative approach to healing that focuses on your goals and hopes, not a clinical path, evaluation, or labeling
An awareness of my white privilege and white supremacy, which have directly benefited my ancestors and myself and continue to be entangled in a broken and oppressive system
An open consideration of the need for some therapy participants to need healing from colonization
Keeping myself open to Eurocentric rules in the Mental Health system that perpetuate a system of individuality, conformity and limited options for care