"We're all just walking
each other home."
-Ram Dass
MY
APPROACH
TO THERAPY
Rae Luise (they / she)
Being human means knowing confusion, loss, and uncertainty, but what feels heavy or overwhelming need not be held alone. It takes courage to seek help, to push against stigma, and to break out of silence or isolation. The relationship between therapist and client can offer a safe space to be heard, and to make sense of the thoughts, feelings and patterns that are occurring in your life and in your most important relationships. Together we can explore new ways of connecting that may bring greater understanding and compassion, and strengthen your capacity to connect and to manage life's difficulties. Our work together will be collaborative as we navigate a pace that feels right for you and develop a curiosity about the experiences that have shaped how you understand yourself and others. Empowerment and growth through interpersonal connection, mindful reflection, and body awareness, are both the process and the goal of my work with clients.
As a relational therapist I take seriously the interpersonal impact of race, class, culture, ableism, gendering, and sexuality and I work with these experiences as they exist in my clients' lives and within our therapeutic relationship. My approach to the process of therapy takes into consideration the interconnection between mind and body, and between the personal and systemic. I strive to work in the spirit of cultural humility and to practice anti-oppressive, harm reductive, and sex positive approaches to healing and personal growth.
Our work together might help you to identify and attend to:
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Depression
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Anxiety
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Grief
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Chronic pain
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Abuse
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Addiction
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Trauma / PTSD
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Sexuality
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Gendering & Identity
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Relationship difficulties
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Eating disorders
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Family conflict
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Self-esteem
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Self-harming
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Suicidal ideation
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Womxn's issues
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Life transitions
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Spirituality
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
One on one relational therapy has your long-term health and happiness in mind. Individual therapy allows you a space to explore your relationship with yourself and with others, past and present. Individual sessions are carefully attuned to your specific needs and intentions. Therapy is a collaborative process that we will navigate together and sessions may include talk therapy, somatic processing, and mindfulness skills depending on what is most useful for you each step of the way.
COUPLE / RELATIONSHIP THERAPY
The experience of tension, disconnection and misunderstanding in our relationships can distress our mental, emotional and physical well-being. When our relationships are healthy and thriving however, they can be the secure base from which we explore and unfold into the world. Working with a therapist may help you to better understand one another and to navigate through hurt, anger, rejection or misattunment in your relationship. I work with queer, straight, monogamous and polyamorous partnerships.
what is MINDFULNESS..?
what is SOMATIC THERAPY..?
Mindfulness is the process of bringing attention to our experience of the present moment. Mindfulness is an effective tool for self-regulation and can reduce symptoms as well as alter our relationship to physical and emotional suffering of all kinds. Mindfulness practices also support a maturation of self-awareness and self-compassion and can increase our resilience and capacity for joy.
Somatic therapy /somatic processing focuses on promoting sensory awareness that may help address physical symptoms that remain in the body in the aftermath of traumas of all degrees. Tracking and identifying sensations and physical responses, clients learn to gradually re-inhabit their bodies in the present moment and to rebuild a sense of internal safety
and trust.
