Mary McCusker
I am a psychotherapist with over 35 years experience. The majority of my work has been in the field of addiction recovery, educating and working with individuals and families at all stages of treatment. I have special interest and expertise helping people process trauma and move toward an integrated recovery. I also work with individuals and families effected by ADD/ADHD and coach them to use new strategies to deal with symptoms and conflicts. I love the creative process of helping people find new ways of understanding their stories and themselves so they can develop more useful ways of responding to life's challenges. I believe strongly in helping people focus on improving self care - sleep, nutrition, exercise - as part of overall treatment. Often even small changes in self care yield big improvements in symptoms and give people hope that they really can make the changes they are hoping for. I am trained in EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques - tapping) and Tapas Acupressure Technique. These safe, simple, easily learned protocols work well to manage symptoms, lessen emotional distress and clear obstacles to feeling and functioning better. Especially useful for anxiety and people who want an approach other than or in addition to traditional talking modality.
First session
In our first session we will begin clarifying your goals and hopes for treatment in such a way that you feel heard and understood. We will talk about one or two simple strategies and tools you can learn to manage your "alarm" and feel more able to ease emotional distress right away.
Strengths
I enjoy listening carefully to understand what brought people to therapy. We then talk about how they might enlarge their "comfort zone" by improving self care and learning to understand and manage the symptoms that have been making it difficult to enjoy their lives. I also include teaching simple mind/body techniques that really help with emotional regulation and lowering distress.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is someone who is seeking therapy to get help to better understanding themselves and their symptoms. They will benefit from processing their experiences in a safe space and will feel empowered by learning new ways to think about themselves and their stories. They will be willing to consider ways to improve self care as one way to feel better that doesn't depend on anyone but themselves.
Treatment methods
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
This is acupressure for the emotions, Clients will learn and practice this very simple, safe and effective technique and be able to use it as needed in our sessions and on their own.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Clients will learn how to apply the principles of this method which will give a new way of making sense of historical experiences and current emotional experience.
Mind-body approach
Clients will learn simple and basic principles of self care and how they effect day to day physical and emotional functioning. Better understanding the mind/body connection will give clients greater ability to manage their "alarm" and improve internal and interpersonal communication.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
Top specialties
Other specialties
Serves
Licensed in
- MassachusettsLicense LMHC1964