I first and foremost adapt my style of therapy to meet your needs. We work together to identify what best supports you toward your goals or areas of focus in therapy. Some clients progress through insight and understanding about an issue while others progress through tangible present-moment skills and tools, all of which I can provide support you with. I also feel that Identity (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc) plays an important role about how we experience the world and how the world views us and I incorporate this into therapy. I see therapy as an equal and collaborative effort between us. I offer a broad range of personal experiences and clinical background to therapy. I enjoy working with people of color and I identify strongly with them. I have extensive experience working with couples, mixed race individuals, inter-racial relationships, the LGBTQQI community, and athletes. I believe I have a great feel for supporting you to be comfortable entering into therapy. Finding a balance of acceptance of you and where you are at in your life while also supporting you with the change you want to make. I offer inquisitive questions to inspire critical thought with tangible actions and tools that you can use.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I generally start off a first session with a warm welcoming and I offer a few options for how we can structure our first session. The first option is that I can start off talking about my therapy style and experience and later in the session I let clients know I would like to ask what is bringing them into therapy or if they have any goals. I do this because sometimes client can be nervous or not sure what to say, so talking about my self first may help people feel more comfortable at the beginning. I also offer that some people like to jump in to talking about what is going on for them and we can start there too. And finally, I offer that if the client had other ideas I have not mentioned about how to structure the session we can take that direction too. I also communicate that part of my job is to support the client to assess if I can meet their needs - do I have the experience and style that works for the client.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I believe my greatest strengths as a provider are my ability to connect and build trust with my clients. I believe I have a warm and easy going way of interacting with people and that comes through in therapy. My job is first and foremost to support my clients in a way that works for them to meet their needs and goals. I do this through intuition, experience, and by simply asking things like what's going well?, what could I do differently?, etc. If the client needs me to be challenging and hold them accountable, I can do that. If a client needs an understanding and supportive softer style, I can do that too. I have worked with a very wide diversity of clients and issues and I believe that reflects my own diversity of personal and professional experience.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I enjoy working with a wide diversity of clients from all walks of life. I enjoy when clients are passionate about wanting change even if they are not always sure what that change is. I especially enjoy client's who are willing to challenge themselves with new ideas or ways of thinking, that can both state their needs while also having humility to learn. I love working with people of color and couples. I have a strong background as a senior manager of companies and also in sports. Although I am a cis heterosexual male, I have a very strong background working with LGBTQQI clients also.
About Aron Sumii
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Using CBT to help people understand and identify how their thinking impacts mood, relationships, work, and overall perspective of the world can be a powerful therapy tool. All of us have thoughts that govern our world and many of these thoughts are important to helping us while some thought patterns hold us back from all that we can do and be. Using my perspective as a therapist gives me a unique perspective to being able to support you to see these thoughts and explore how they impact the client world and if warranted, change these thought patterns to support people toward their goals.
Couples Counseling
I have worked with couples for over 20 years and I enjoy supporting couples to improve their communication with very tangible skills and activities while also promoting insight into each individual's actions in the relationship and the couple's dynamics that promote their happiness and those that detract from happiness. I use both deep insight oriented approaches along with teachable skills needed for the present moment. Many of the couples I have worked with are exploring issues around communication, infidelity, racial and cultural issues, finances, parenting, and the daily challenges of living a well balances life and relationship.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
I have worked with individuals and couples for over 20 years with a focus on the many identities each of us hold, which can include race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, and many other identities. Understanding how our identity shapes the way in which we experience the world and how the world views is an important factor in therapy. I approach therapy with a balance of the direct reality of things such as race and culture, while also understanding and exploring that no identity is a monolith. Each person and their experience is unique and valuable to how they experience the world.
Trauma Informed Care
Understanding how trauma impacts a person's life physically, mentally, and emotionally is important to both the therapy and client. Trauma impacts our relationships, confidence, shame, and all parts of our lives. Supporting client's to address trauma and leveraging the resilience that many people who have experienced trauma have is a cornerstone to my work.
Psychodynamic
For many people understanding the origins of why they experience the world a certain way can be very helpful for therapy. Insight into beliefs or behaviors that are harmful to us or don't make sense are great ways to use Psychodynamic therapy. Understanding the origins to our beliefs and behaviors is something that many people find effective to their therapy.