What I offer
Vesta Counseling is committed to you, your family, and the care you need. I offer family therapy sessions, couple’s therapy sessions, individual therapy sessions, and EMDR. Please read below for more details.
Family therapy
If you’re feeling helpless to resolve your family’s issues, you are not alone. Almost all families experience some degree of conflict as they negotiate living and loving together. While having some tension within your family is to be expected, there are times when it can be extremely helpful to draw from third party guidance and support in a safe space. If your family is experiencing discord or uncertainty due to recent events or changes, clashes of differing perspectives, or issues in the marital relationship, family counseling can help.
Counseling can be a very effective means for addressing unhealthy patterns as well as repairing family wounds. Stress often leads to increased feelings of fear, disappointment or resentment which manifests itself in many different and destructive ways in families. Some issues that can be addressed in therapy are parent-child relationships, couple’s counseling, lifecycle transitions, blended families, co-parenting concerns, intergenerational trauma, attachment wounds, communication with adult children and siblings, and grief & loss.
Setting aside a time together where members of the family can express themselves and begin to honor each other’s perspectives can be extremely therapeutic. Family therapy can any member that the client identifies as family whether it is couple’s counseling or include siblings, grandparents, and other supports. With specialized training in the art and science of family counseling, your therapist can help you harness your existing strengths while also teaching you new tools and strategies. As you begin to practice your new skills at home, you’ll be able to reflect on your family’s unique successes and challenges with your therapist, who can help you further fine-tune your approach.
Individual therapy
Vesta Counseling provides individual therapy to ages 12 and up. Individual counseling is a one-on-one confidential discussion between the counselor and the client, who is the person seeking treatment. The more open the communication is between a therapist and client, the more likely it is that treatment will be effective.
The primary goal of individual therapy is to increase understanding of one’s thought and behavior patterns to help improve well-being. In therapy, people can learn how to effectively manage stress, interpersonal difficulties, and troubling situations. They may develop abilities to make healthy decisions, set goals, and become more self-aware. Clients often gain a better understanding of themselves and others and feel an increased confidence to address life stressors.
The subjects and topics that get discussed between a therapist and a client depend on the client’s needs and goals. Individual therapy may be short-term (focusing on immediate issues) or long-term (delving into more complex problems). The number of sessions and the frequency of appointments depends on the individual’s situation and the recommendations of the therapist.
If you find yourself struggling with strong emotions such as depression/sadness, anxiety, grief, confusion, helplessness, or anger that is disrupting your ability to truly enjoy life, individual therapy can help. You are capable of healing, growing, and moving toward a more productive and psychologically healthy life.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was developed in 1987 and is an evidenced based treatment for trauma. EMDR treatment is focused on processing distressing memories, incidents or emotions. That is what your brain does naturally while you sleep. An EMDR therapist uses bilateral stimulation (involving eye movements or tapping) to activate that natural process (similar to REM sleep) in the brain with the goal of activating both sides of the brain.
The goal of EMDR therapy is to completely process the traumatic experiences that are causing problems. Stress responses are part of our natural fight, flight, or freeze instincts. When distress from a disturbing event remains, the upsetting images, thoughts, and emotions may create an overwhelming feeling of being back in that moment, or of being “frozen in time.” EMDR therapy helps the brain process these memories, and allows normal healing to resume. The experience is still remembered, but the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is resolved.
After the therapist and client agree that EMDR therapy is a good fit, the beginning sessions will involve discussing what the client wants to work on and improving the client's ability to manage distress. When ready for the next phases of EMDR therapy, the client will be asked to focus on a specific event. Attention will be given to a negative image, belief, emotion, and body feeling related to this event, and then to a positive belief that would indicate the issue was resolved. While the client focuses on the upsetting event, the therapist will begin sets of side-to-side eye movements or taps. The client will be guided to notice what comes to mind after each set.
As processing continues, they may experience shifts in insight or changes in images, feelings, or beliefs regarding the event. The client has full control to stop the therapist at any point if needed. The sets of eye movements or taps are repeated until the event becomes less disturbing. EMDR therapy is not complete until attention has been brought to the past memories that are contributing to the problem, the present situations that are disturbing, and what skills the client may need for the future.