Starting therapy can be a difficult process. I make this process as easy for you as possible. Therapy starts with us getting to know each other and for me to understand your needs for treatment. I want to make sure that I can meet your requirements and help you work on what you came into treatment for or find you someone who can. As a therapist, I help you become the best version of yourself. My job is to give you the skills to manage difficulties when they occur. Situations occur that you may not feel equipped to handle. Let me support you to help you get through and gain insight about yourself and your ability to handle things in the future. I provide a comfortable and non-intrusive environment. I work with people to help them develop a strong sense of self, learn to have healthier relationships, learn mindfulness, distress tolerance skills, and other ways to regulate their emotions, reduce anxiety, and learn to be less impulsive. If you have moments when you think you should reach out for help or support, even if the thoughts are fleeting, I encourage you to reach out to me for support.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In the first session with a client I always what is most important for the client for the session. Typically, I like to ask a lot of questions and get a full understanding of the client's goals for therapy, what their current life looks like, and how they got here - questions about their family of origin, growing up, childhood, teens and adult life, etc. I do understand that some clients do not want to spend their first session this way and want to be able to talk about what brings them in and focus more on the present, so the client can choose what they want to focus on. There is an intake form to be completed that does provide a little of the background information but I like to get a full picture within those early sessions when appropriate. We can quickly put a treatment plan, a plan of action together and discuss what the next few steps will be.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I believe some of my strengths come from being a person who listens to what is being and said and what is not being said. Is good at putting the pieces together and seeing a core belief or how things can be related and finding ways to really include the client in the process, empowering them and making sure they feel safe during the process. If clients are looking for a short-term relationship or a long-term relationship, I work to ensure they are getting the best outcomes for their expectations and discuss expectations along the way. I also discuss with clients how much time and energy they want to put into therapy to be able to assertain what a client prefers like assignments to do between sessions, just an ear to listen or something in between. I believe this is YOUR process and should work best for your preferences.
About Danièle Trevathan
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
I love using DBT because it has lots of skills that can be used for not only treating personality disorders but also works well with substance abuse and trauma. I love starting with understanding our own temperature of emotions and learning to be more self aware of our thoughts and feelings using mindfulness to guide this part of the process. Then learning more skills related to tolerating our thoughts and feelings, regulating our thoughts and feelings and learning how to develop skills to help with relationships with others. Although this is a modality related to skill building but also working on how to move what we learn in therapy into real life practice, some of the core beliefs of DBT guide my work with all clients in being able to look at core beliefs, attachment styles, cognitions and self talk and also behaviors and using those things to guide a treatment plan best for the client.
EMDR
EMDR is a really interesting way to work with core beliefs and/or trauma and use negative events, emotions and/or beliefs and integrate them with a new and more positive thought. It makes sense to me that trauma and past events leave their 'mark' on us in some way or form and being able to get to the root of the problem allows for change. There are different EMDR methods that can be used to make things more manageable for the client and the client really has complete control over the whole process. This allows the client to feel more empowered and also less afraid of using this modality if they have a trauma that results in them often feeling unsafe or not trusting.
Positive Psychology
Happy Happy Joy Joy - Positive Psychology looks at the common factors that happy people have in common. What makes us happy and what can we do to improve our happiness. One of the main things I love about this modality is how we think about our clielnt. The client is healthy and well but has ares in their life their want to improve instead of coming from a wellness model of our client is sick and we need to find their diagnosis and treatment their problem. This views a client more holistically and in a more positive regard.
Compassion Focused
Without going into an explanation on each modality, since I have an eclectic style that chooses aspects of many different modalities to best fit the needs of my client. Although I use the DBT / EMDR and Positive Psychology modalities in some way with all clients, I will also borrow from compassion-focused, client-centered, REBT, mindfulness, CBT, psychoeducational, etc. I feel like the process is important but the relationship between therapist and client is more important. Creating a safe space where a client can safely explore their thoughts, feelings and fears while improving the aspect of themselves that they came to work on is key to a client growing.