Hi! My name is Naomi! With over 25 years in the field of psychotherapy, I bring the education, experience, and skills to help you through the issues you're facing. With a vast array of modalities and techniques, I am able to guide you towards health and healing. Although my primary method of therapy is talk therapy, I often assign physical, creative, and educational homework to help advance your progress. I do not work with any one specific group or symptom and would never want to limit my practice to one specialty, so my profile may sound a little different. There are, however, several areas in which I have especially deep expertise and passion: Anxiety, Depression, Divorce, Loss and Grief, Recovery from Addiction, Empty Nest Syndrome, Anger Management, Boundary issues, Trauma, Feelings of Overwhelm, PTSD, Cancer, Aspergers, and Personality Disorders, to name a few. You will find me deeply caring, fully engaged, compassionate, insightful, and an active listener. You will get feedback in every session, and occasionally, I will suggest "homework" to reinforce lessons learned in the sessions. Using a mind-body approach, I am primarily a talk therapist, but additionally integrate techniques that reduce stress "from the bottom up," incorporating DBT (Dialectic Behavioral Therapy) and Polyvagal Exercises. I also practice what I preach and have built a full life with friends and family, gardening, reading, outdoor anything, dance, yoga, swimming, needlepoint, scrapbooking, and hiking. Let's get you back on track, process issues from your past, update the internal narrative, and find a way for you to feel more at peace with yourself, your life and your relationships.
In our first session, we will briefly introduce ourselves, clarify your reason for therapy, and determine what your goals are. Towards the end, we'll review business practices such as contact information, and we can make a plan for our future follow-up sessions. This is also a good time to answer any questions that you may have about my practice, education or experience. This initial interview determines if I have the confidence to treat you, and if you want to work with me.
Having over 25 years in the field allows me to have a grasp of issues very quickly. My education and experience has allowed me to build an array of techniques that I apply to guide my clients towards health and healing. Also having lived life a bit, I have experienced some of the difficult things my clients have experienced, and they are comforted that I have a road map to managing and coping with their struggles.
I'm interested and ideally suited for many types of client populations. If I meet with someone who presents something unfamiliar, or someone who I don't feel I can confident help, I'll make an appropriate referral or recommend that Grow Therapy help with a referral.
I use a number of methodologies that I've learned and used in my 25+ year practice such as CBT to help change negative self-talk; DBT for coping skills; Insight work to understand your issues in the context of your history, Solution Focused to solve here and now problems; Psycho-educational to better understand how the brain works; Grief Process work; MI for behavior addictions; Polyvagal for nervous system dysregulation. The methods I employ depend on the presentation of the client, the symptoms described, and what I believe will best help them in that moment.