Integrative therapy is perfectly tailored for you
No two people are alike, which means no two therapies should be just alike, either. Integrative therapy is a custom approach that tailors itself to the needs of a particular patient.
With integrative therapy, I use a variety of different theories and approaches to mental and emotional healing because no one formula fits every person. Depending on the patient, I employ “a little bit of this” and “a little bit of that” of all the different branches of psychological work and meld them together in a way that will help my clients the most.
Mind-body healing with integrative therapy
I truly believe that to heal a person’s problems, you have to address the whole person. People are made up of so many wonderful and complex things: physical body, mind, emotions, childhood, family structure, spirituality, experiences … this list could go one for pages. All those pieces come together to form a whole person, so it doesn’t make sense to focus on only the “problem” when there are so many other factors that influence it.
What our journeys teach us
I think every experience is part of our journey. I’ve worked with people who are very judgmental about their past, but I believe we come to who we are through experience. Sometimes we don’t get to choose the experiences we’re put into, especially when we’re very young, but our journeys teach us things. Part of what I do as an integrative therapist is tease out the greater meaning of these experiences.
The spiritual component of integrative therapy
It’s always part of my initial interview: “Tell me about your spirituality.” Religion and spirituality have a tremendous guiding force in people’s lives, and many times, healing that spiritual portion makes a world of difference to the whole.
If spirituality is something my patients’ feel comfortable talking about, we do. I always try to understand my patients’ religion/spirituality, even if I’ve never heard of it before. I’ll ask a lot of questions and then do research on my own if I’m working with a person whose faith I’m not familiar with. My patients seems to really appreciate it when I’m upfront about not knowing a lot about their religion, and they always seem excited to talk about it, to teach me.
Wilderness therapy
One tactic I use a lot in my integrative approach is nature therapy or wilderness therapy. There’s something about being out in nature that just heals people. They slow down. They stop thinking about all the things on their to-do lists. Connecting with nature helps people reconnect with themselves.
Who says therapy means lying on a couch?!? I like to take my patients outside to chat, whether on a hike, sitting m a duck pond or tinkering in a garden.
Support groups
I’ve led a ton of support groups in my years as an integrative counselor, and I’m a big believer that coming together with others who are struggling with the same thing you’re struggling with can be incredibly empowering.
Over my years as a counselor I’ve worked with all kinds of support groups, from postpartum groups to grief and loss, families with disabled children, and PTSD. If I think group therapy would be helpful for my patients in addition to or instead of individual therapy, I’ll suggest it. That’s a perk of being an integrative therapist: I’m not bound by theory to stay within certain parameters for treatment. If I think something will help my patient, I do it.
Schedule your FREE 45-minute session today!
Let’s get to know each other. I’d love to help you grow. To schedule your free session, give me a call at 706-864-7790 or visit me online at www.IntoTheWoodsTherapies.com.