Lorine Estelle Bay
My approach integrates Person-Centered Expressive Arts Therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Somatic Experiencing, mindfulness, DBT, CBT, motivational interviewing, active imagination, systems theory, and solution-focused therapy. I believe healing involves more than changing thoughts alone. Research on neuroplasticity shows the brain and nervous system can form new pathways throughout life, creating opportunities for meaningful emotional and behavioral change. Therapy can support not only insight, but also emotional regulation, self-compassion, nervous system balance, creativity, and resilience. I work collaboratively and compassionately, welcoming all parts of you into the therapeutic process. Together, we may explore thoughts, emotions, body awareness, imagination, patterns shaped by past experiences, and practical tools that support lasting growth and healing. You do not need to be “artistic” to benefit from expressive arts therapy.
First session
During our first session, we will discuss your current challenges, relevant personal history, relationships, stressors, strengths, coping patterns, and what you would like support with moving forward. I also pay attention to how stress, trauma, anxiety, depression, or life transitions may be affecting your nervous system, emotional well-being, relationships, creativity, and sense of self. My approach is collaborative and individualized. Depending on your needs and comfort level, sessions may include traditional talk therapy along with mindfulness, expressive arts, body awareness, parts work, nervous system regulation tools, or practical coping strategies. There is never pressure to use art in therapy, and no artistic experience is needed. Many clients tell me they feel relieved to have a space where all parts of themselves are welcomed with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment. My goal is to help you feel emotionally safe, understood, and supported while we begin identifying realistic goals and building a therapeutic relationship that supports meaningful and lasting change.
Strengths
Clients often appreciate that I welcome both emotional depth and practical change. I can help clients process trauma and difficult emotions while also supporting concrete goals such as improving communication, reducing anxiety, building healthier relationships, increasing motivation, setting boundaries, and creating healthier daily habits. Another strength of my work is my focus on the connection between the mind, body, nervous system, and creativity. Research on neuroplasticity shows that meaningful change is possible throughout life, and therapy can help create new emotional, behavioral, and relational pathways. I often help clients move beyond self-judgment and survival patterns toward greater resilience, flexibility, authenticity, and connection. Clients frequently describe my style as warm, grounded, intuitive, collaborative, and nonjudgmental. I strive to create a therapeutic space where people feel emotionally safe enough to bring forward the parts of themselves that may have previously felt unseen, overwhelmed, ashamed, or misunderstood.
Ideal clients
My way of working relies on my client's intrinsic motivation to set goals and move toward creating their best life and Authentic-Self-Actualization. I love working with clients who are willing to participate, accept support and talk about the real problems, issues and obstacles they need to overcome in order to reach their goals. I love working with clients who are interested in working with any creative process, expressive arts and sand play.
Treatment methods
Person-centered (Rogerian)
In my practice, Person-Centered Therapy means that I treat you as the ultimate authority on your own life, moving completely away from a rigid, clinical "expert-to-patient" dynamic. I believe that every individual—whether a five-year-old child using art materials or an adult unburdening a lifetime of anxiety—possesses an innate, natural blueprint toward healing, wholeness, and self-actualization. My role is to provide the optimal, secure environment to unlock that potential. Here is exactly how this foundational philosophy guides our sessions: 1. Unconditional Positive Regard for Every Part of You A cornerstone of the person-centered approach is unconditional acceptance. In our sessions, this means there is absolutely no room for judgment, shame, or pathologizing your behavior. • When integrated with Internal Family Systems (IFS), I don't look at your coping mechanisms—like people-pleasing, avoidance, or intense anxiety loops—as defects to be eliminated. • Instead, we treat them with profound curiosity and respect, understanding that they are protective parts of your system that stepped in to help you survive difficult experiences. 2. A Non-Directive, Collaborative Alliance I do not impose an external agenda, a forced timeline, or a generic cookie-cutter treatment plan on your life. • We work collaboratively, at the exact pace your nervous system dictates. • By listening deeply and mirroring your internal landscape with genuine empathy, I help you bring your own hidden, unconscious patterns into regular conscious awareness. You lead the way, and I walk safely right beside you. 3. Creative Autonomy Through Expressive Arts When using expressive arts, a person-centered approach ensures that the creative process belongs entirely to you. • You do not need any artistic skill, and I will never analyze, judge, or interpret your artwork. • Instead, the art materials act as a non-judgmental extension of your inner world. It provides a safe, tangible space where your parts can visually voice what words cannot capture, allowing you to naturally reclaim your inherent resilience, confidence, and authentic Self-leadership.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
In my practice, I use Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Jungian depth work to help you stop fighting your internal conflicts and start leading your life from a place of calm, confident wholeness. Rather than treating anxiety, trauma, or relationship triggers as flaws to fix, this approach views your mind as a natural system made up of distinct "parts." Every part has a valuable history, and even your most frustrating patterns are actually protective behaviors trying to keep you safe. Here is exactly how we weave these modalities together to achieve deep, root-cause healing: 1. Differentiating Your "Self" from Your Triggers When you are overwhelmed by anxiety, shame, or anger, it feels like that emotion is entirely who you are. This is called being "blended" with a part. I help you cultivate Self-energy—the calm, compassionate, and curious core of your true identity. By gently stepping back from the intense emotion, you realize you are the steady observer, not the storm itself. 2. Safely Reaching and Healing Your "Exiles" Trauma and painful past scripts often force certain parts of us into hiding. These are our "exiles"—the young, wounded parts carrying heavy burdens like "I am unlovable," "I am unsafe," or "I am a failure." • Using active imagination, we safely step into the subconscious workspace to visit these coordinates in your history. • As your adult, wise Self, you provide the validation and protection these young parts never received. • We collaboratively help them release, or unburden, their toxic beliefs into the elements (light, water, earth), freeing them from the past. 3. Transforming Internal Critics into Allies Your system also contains "protectors" (like a harsh inner critic, a hyper-vigilant controller, or an avoidant people-pleaser) that work tirelessly to keep those exiles from being hurt again. Instead of trying to eliminate these critical voices, we treat them with profound respect and curiosity. When your protectors realize that you are leading from a place of secure Self-leadership and that the exiles are safe, they can finally relax and step down from survival mode. By integrating these fragmented pieces of your identity, you shift your baseline self-concept from internal warfare to deep, lasting harmony.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
In my practice, I use Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to provide you with concrete, real-world tools that stabilize emotional storms and bring immediate relief to a hyper-vigilant nervous system. While depth modalities like IFS and expressive arts heal root causes, DBT provides the practical, day-to-day scaffolding required to handle intense triggers in the moment. It bridges the gap between deep trauma processing and everyday survival. Here is exactly how I integrate DBT into our collaborative work: 1. Embracing the Dialectic: Acceptance and Change The core philosophy of DBT is finding the balance between two seemingly opposite truths: accepting yourself exactly as you are right now, and actively working to change your life. • In our sessions, this means we completely validate the pain, anxiety, or trauma you are feeling without self-judgment. • Simultaneously, we refuse to let those feelings hijack your life. We shift focus toward building actionable skills to change your behavioral responses. 2. Immediate Distress Tolerance & Mindfulness When trauma or anxiety triggers hit, your brain steps out of logical thinking and into a biological fight-or-flight survival loop. I teach you concrete, physical, and cognitive tools to down-regulate your nervous system immediately. • Nervous System Reset: We utilize specific sensory and somatic exercises to settle the physical surge of panic, anger, or overwhelm before it dictates your actions. • Present-Moment Anchoring: We practice mindfulness tools to help you become the steady observer of your thoughts, preventing a painful emotional wave from pulling you under. 3. Emotion Regulation & Healthy Boundaries Many clients repeat painful patterns simply because they don't fully understand how to navigate their internal world or communicate their needs. DBT provides a highly practical manual for everyday life. • Decoding Emotions: We learn to identify and ride the waves of complex feelings without letting them cause real-world wreckage. • Interpersonal Effectiveness: I provide structured templates to help you set firm boundaries, communicate with absolute clarity, and navigate relationship friction with couples or family members without sacrificing your self-concept. By layering these practical skills over our creative and depth work, you gain both the deep internal alignment and the functional, real-world tools needed to step fully into resilient Self-leadership.
Somatic
In my practice, I integrate Somatic tracking, Polyvagal theory, and the science of neuroplasticity to help you actively rewire how your brain and body hold onto stress, trauma, and anxiety. True healing requires more than just intellectually analyzing your problems; it requires changing the physical, biological coding of your nervous system. When you experience trauma or chronic anxiety, your body gets stuck in old survival loops. By working directly with the mind-body connection, we shift your nervous system out of state-level reactivity and into sustainable safety. Here is exactly how this looks in our sessions: 1. Mapping Your Nervous System (Polyvagal Theory) We begin by mapping out your unique nervous system states so you can stop judging your emotional reactions and start understanding them as biological data. • The Sympathetic Drive: Recognizing when a trigger throws you into a state of fight-or-flight, characterized by panic, racing thoughts, or anger. • The Dorsal Shutdown: Recognizing when your system becomes so overwhelmed that it completely shuts down, leaving you feeling numb, frozen, depressed, or stuck. • The Ventral Anchor: Cultivating your biological state of safety, connection, and calm. Together, we learn how to gently guide your body back to this state when you are triggered. 2. Somatic Tracking: Moving Out of the Analytical Mind Instead of simply talking about your trauma, we track how it lives in your body in the present moment. I guide you to observe physical sensations—such as a tightness in your chest, a knot in your stomach, or a shift in your breathing—with curiosity rather than fear. By learning to safely sit with and breathe through these sensations, you teach your amygdala that you are safe in the here-and-now, allowing trapped survival energy to finally release. 3. Rewiring the Brain (Neuroplasticity) Your brain possesses an incredible, lifelong ability to form new neural pathways. Every time we successfully intercept an old, automatic survival pattern—whether through a somatic pause, a person-centered art intervention, or an IFS unburdening—we are actively weakening an old, painful script. By consistently practicing nervous system regulation and anchoring your self-concept in safety, we leverage neuroplasticity to build resilient new neural loops. Over time, calm, flexibility, and authentic Self-leadership become your body’s natural, automatic baseline.
Solution-Focused Brief Treatment
In my practice, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) ensures that while we honor and process your past, we do not allow you to become trapped by it. Instead of spending months solely dissecting the history of a problem, this approach actively pivots your attention toward your inherent strengths, exceptions to your struggles, and a concrete vision of the future you want to create. It is a highly practical, forward-moving modality that helps you step out of a fixed "problem identity" and into a self-concept of capability and change. Here is exactly how I weave this method into our collaborative work: 1. Identifying "Exceptions" to the Problem No matter how overwhelming anxiety, trauma, or relationship friction might feel, it is never present 100% of the time. There are always subtle moments where the problem is absent, less intense, or handled slightly better. I help you track down these quantum exceptions. By bringing these hidden moments into clear conscious awareness, we uncover your existing, built-in resilience and discover the coping strategies your system already knows how to use. 2. Crafting the Vision of the Wish Fulfilled Utilizing specialized, goal-oriented questioning—similar to the creative visualizations we explore in Jungian active imagination—I ask you to deeply explore what your life looks like when the struggle is no longer running the show. We look at: • What are you doing differently? • How does your nervous system feel? • How are you interacting with your family or partner? By mapping out this preferred future in vivid detail, we give your brain a precise, hopeful target. This acts as a conscious blueprint, using the mechanics of neuroplasticity to build entirely new behavioral and relational pathways. 3. Activating Small, Measurable Shifts Solution-focused work breaks down massive, daunting life transitions into small, achievable experiments. We use scaling tools to measure your progress and focus entirely on your next actionable step. Whether it is adjusting a daily boundary habit, using a DBT distress tool when triggered, or implementing a new communication shift, we focus on what is working. By constantly anchoring our sessions in your strengths and tangible goals, you walk away with immediate, real-world momentum to lead your life from a place of secure, authentic Self-leadership.
Location
Virtual sessions
In-person sessions340 Soquel Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060