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Services

INDIVIDUALS / COUPLES / FAMILIES

Specialties in Therapy

Individuals, couples, marriage, and families

Crisis
Trauma
Trained in Somatic Experience
Grief
Stress
Anxiety
Depression
Life transitions
Transgenerational/ancestral
Family of origin
EMDR

Life Transitions

From Baby to Senior, we encounter many and varied life transitions. Some are smooth sailing, others bring some challenge or discomfort. It’s the ones that seem to stop or get us stuck, those that cause us confusion, anxiety, and fear of forward movement.

These are what asks us to re-visit, explore, and uncover our truer selves. This is where I come in….to guide, support, and offer all that I bring…..Skills, tools, experience, education, compassion, intuition, and passion to move you forward in life.

Trauma

Trauma is an internal straitjacket created when a devastating moment is frozen in time. It stifles the unfolding of being and strangles our attempt to move forward in fear, as though our instinctive survival energies were “all dressed up with no place to go”.

Somatic Experiencing is a short term naturalistic approach to the resolution of Post-traumatic stress reactions. (Peter Levine, Ph.D, 1997)

There are three basic types of trauma (Peter Levine, Ph.D 1997):

Acute – single event
Chronic – repeated, prolonged exposure
Complex – multiple traumatic events

Symptoms of trauma:

Lack of safety, Security is threatened
Monitors Environment
Startle response
Lack of self-soothing

Somatic Experiencing

When faced with a threat , the body tends to respond by freezing up due to a cascade of chemicals released by the brain in order to help the body fight against oncoming stress and challenges. While this is meant to help, leaving the body in a chronic state of defense can inflict physical trauma on the nervous system.

Often times, we are unable to distinguish this physical trauma from mental trauma, which is why the healing process might be so difficult.

Physical symptoms related to trauma include but not limited to :

Increased heart rate
Difficulty sleeping
Difficulties breathing
Digestion problems
Muscle tension

Somatic Experiencing is a form of therapy that aims to address the trauma that the body seems to remember more than the mind does. Through this process, you will learn to become aware of your body’s responses to certain feelings. By identifying these responses, you will also be able to learn how to calm them. It will then be easier for us to focus on what is going on emotionally, and thus the healing will come faster.

Grief

Grief is a complex interplay of emotions and memories that hold us as we move through loss. Whether in relation to a person, an animal, a concept, or what could have been, grief and loss can leave us stuck in the memories of the past, fearing to let go.

Grief is often viewed as a process that occurs in discrete stages:

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

In reality, a journey through grief is far from organized. We can experience many of these “stages” simultaneously, or flip back and forth between them at any point. My role is to meet you with compassion and intuition, moving together through grief as we honour the past and look forward in life.

Crisis

When our problems become too overwhelming to bear, we can feel hopeless and imprisoned, unable to see a way out of the mess. No one needs to be stuck in this place. I am here to support you, detangle the ties, and fill you with courage to search for your guiding light. This, too, shall pass.

Anxieties

Anxiety causes a disruption and can even stop individuals from participating in some of life’s most fulfilling experiences.There is help and support for you. No one needs to be frozen in time due to anxieties.

Common types of anxiety:

Social – fear of certain interactions
Panic – racing heart
PTSD – post traumatic Stress Disorder
Separation anxiety
Phobias
General Anxiety – worry, overly concerned
Hoarding
Negative – self talk

Depression

Depression can manifest in many different ways as it does not always follow the stereotypical patterns that are popularized in our society. Whether bombarded by persistent feelings of sadness or numbness, depression can trap us in stagnancy, coupled to us like a cloud that dampens our experiences with the world, the people around us, and ourselves.

Common characteristics of depression include:

decreased enjoyment in things that used to bring us pleasure
feelings of worthlessness, guilt
thoughts of suicide
change in appetite, weight, sleep
fatigue

It is important to note that depression does not always need to encompass all of these characteristics. Many times, depression can present as physical changes in regards to appetite, sleep, and fatigue. I am here to understand and parse through your experience with depression, providing security and support as we explore its depth and build a path out.

Family Constellations

Out of love and loyalty, we often unconsciously carry the traumas and destructive patterns of our ancestors, which may manifest in our daily lives as unresolvable personal problems and relationship issues.
Through the gentle yet powerful process of Family Constellations, we enter into connection with our ancestors through the energetic ‘Knowing Field.’ Our entanglements within our ancestral family are gently and respectfully uncovered.

Family Constellation participants commonly report their experience to be sacred, cathartic, connecting, and profound. As a compassionate and highly intuitive facilitator and guide, Rita gently guides participants into a sense of right-relation which allows for healing and the natural flow of love.