My anchoring belief as a therapist- and as a person- is that therapy isn't about "being fixed," as if any of us are some kind of broken thing. To me, it’s about recovering from suffering, and connecting more deeply and authentically to yourself, allowing for your thoughts, feelings, desires and dreams. It can be difficult to begin a new therapy relationship and be vulnerable, especially when relationships have been harmful in the past. I think taking the risk anyway reflects an inherent pull toward repairing the old wounds that restrict our capacity to live freely and joyfully. I provide psychodynamic, trauma-informed, and relational psychotherapy. We’ll collaboratively explore and process the impact of the past on the present, as well as tackle current difficulties. Creative arts therapy and drama therapy approaches can also be integrated into the therapy process, based on client interest and need. My style is warm, nonjudgmental, playful, curious and real- I have very solid boundaries, but have learned how to navigate them while also being a very real person in the room. I love this work, and love being an agent of change in guiding folks to live the life they truly want to live, and feel more alive inside of it.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our first session, I show up open and receptive to where you're at and what you might need. In my 14 years as a psychotherapist, I've become quite agile in responding flexibility and spontaneously in this way- I don't have a set plan for the first session, because every person is unique and every person comes in differently. Some folks leap into their first session wanting to tell me EVERYTHING about what's going on with them, right now or historically or both- and I support and hold space for that. Some folks show up more nervous or guarded, and need my help with where to start or finding what to say. When that's the case, I aim to meet those patients by being more active in asking questions that will help them begin to share, and help me start to get to know who they are and how they're struggling. Generally speaking, in the first few sessions I hope to start gaining an understanding of why you're here in this moment, who you are and what you need from YOUR PERSPECTIVE, so I can start trying to help you get it. And in doing that, I hope to start building a sense of trust and safety in the relationship. I always make room for questions and try to demystify any element of therapy for folks, especially those who might be new to therapy and feel nervous about it. Above all- in the very first session? I try to use my years of experience at this to notice you, and adjust the way I'm showing up and what I'm offering accordingly, so hopefully even the first time we meet, you receive something that aligns with what you need and why you're here, and leave with a bit of hope.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I feel so lucky to be at the stage of my career where I'm really benefitting from the gift of years of experience. At this point, I feel so grounded, calm, and fully myself in the work- and I know how to do that while maintaining strong and clear boundaries. As a person, I have a real capacity to go to dark places and not be afraid of getting dirty and exploratory inside of them, and I think I bring that willingness into my work as a therapist, too- which can be really helpful because if you get an intuitive ( or clear!) sense that your therapist is avoidant of dark or scary places, it doesn't quite inspire confidence that you can go there and they'll come with you. And I think related to that one- I have an ability to be playful and laugh at the sometimes ridiculousness of being a person. But I'm skillful and intuitive in knowing when laughter or playfulness could be helpful and relieving, and when someone is not in a place of playfulness with their pain. I know the bravery and challenge that engaging in a new therapy process requires, and that it's normal for it to suck sometimes and to want to avoid it. I don't expect anyone to show up to therapy like YAY THIS RULES. Ultimately, healing and finding greater freedom in yourself and in your life does kind of rule, but I also know that it sucks sometimes, and it's hard. And I also believe, through both my clinical and lived experiences, that living with mental health challenges and still having a great and fulfilling life is totally possible. Being a person is hard, and humans beings are given a sort of impossible task. I think we're all just doing our best and there is literally no way to do it perfectly, and I bring that vibe to the work that I do.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I love working with LGBTQIA+ folks, with artists around challenges with their creative blocks, with both young adults dealing with their messy and complicated 20's and slighter older adults navigating the different challenges of their 30s and 40s, big life transitions in general and existential angst, folks struggling with dating, love, sex and relationships, with addiction and recovery, with anxiety, trauma and abuse, and difficulties with shame, self-love and self-acceptance.
About Elyssa Kreimendahl
Identifies as
Serves ages
Licensed in
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Psychodynamic
As a psychodynamically- oriented therapist, I engage with my patients in exploring their unconscious thoughts, feelings, conflicts, childhood experiences and relational patterns to process and heal unattended-to wounds, and cultivate insight around how the past impacts the present- as it often does in uninvited ways through current emotional and behavioral challenges. Once we become aware of these internal dynamics and feel the feelings stored around them, change and growth becomes so much more possible.
Relational
As a relational therapist, I show up in my relationships with my patients grounded in the belief that the actual therapeutic relationship shared between therapist & patient is a fundamental & powerful instrument in the healing process. So often the ways we all struggle as people are located in relational and attachment wounds- can I be me and not be judged or shamed? Am I safe to be vulnerable? Am I likable, am I deserving of love, will I be abandoned or let down, and if so, is that my fault? All these questions come up in therapy related to a patient's family and other relationships, but especially as the connection between therapist and client deepens, they also emerge IN the therapeutic relationship. Attending openly to the feelings and dynamics that emerge between the patient and therapist in the here and now provides such an incredible opportunity for transformation and healing around relational wounds and interpersonal difficulties. I often think of it simply like this: if in this therapy relationship I can feel truly safe, vulnerable, angry, loving, irritating, all of me etc etc- maybe I can feel that in my outside relationships? If I can feel it here, why wouldn't it be possible to feel it anywhere? Why wouldn't it be possible that the level of acceptance, care and understanding of all that I am is something I deserve, and deserved to have experienced all along?
Trauma Informed Care
I spent several years training in a clinic for folks with severe trauma and PTSD, and carry my experiences and learning in trauma-informed care into my general approach with my patients. It's nearly impossible to survive life without some kind of trauma, and it's the very nature of trauma to avoid discussing and dealing with it, because it feels like doing so will be as scary and painful as the trauma was. My approach involves a warm, respectful but direct willingness to ask about traumatic experiences you've gone through, and when you're ready, to facilitate a process of engaging with those memories. The work includes affective processing of the experiences and feelings stored around them, and the more cognitive element of gaining insight as to how the traumatic experiences show up in your life, and learning to differentiate between the past and the present; i.e, when I am in trauma-based fear and when am I safe? When is my partner being harmful and when am I feeling they're harmful because I'm triggered and spiraling in a trauma place? A trauma-informed approach supports patients in helping diminish their anxiety and/or PTSD symptoms, and rebuild their capacity to feel safe and risk vulnerability in relationships. It's very connected to the above relational approach too, because so much trauma is relational; sadly so much harm is located in our interpersonal experiences. As such, it makes the most sense for the healing of those relational wounds to happen where the harm occurred- in relationship.
Experiential Therapy
In addition to talk therapy, I also have a specialized background in creative arts and drama therapy, and since the pandemic I've been discovering ways to use these treatment approaches within a remote therapy context. I incorporate elements of storytelling and creative writing, visual art, character exploration, role play and symbolic aesthetic concretizations of different aspects of the self to call upon the incredible capacity of creative processes to aid in the larger healing process.