Hello there, I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist working out of California. I attended the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA, were I earned a degree in Integral Clinical Counseling. I am an integral therapist, and support people who have experienced trauma in facilitating both healing and creating a thriving sense of self.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our first session, we will get to know each other, and collaborate together in setting the goals you would like for yourself in treatment. I may ask you a few questions about your background, current symptoms you might have, and generally what brought you to therapy.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I am a kind, empathic and intuitive therapist who tends to go to the heart of what needs healing. My life's work is to facilitate organic healing and to help alleviate suffering and discomfort on and individual and community level. My background in working closely with the county district attorney's office entails helping survivors begin to thrive on their own after experiencing traumas.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I currently work with a wide and diverse population of individuals. I have found that most people who gravitate to me and my work tend to be sensitive types who have experienced traumas (whether relational/attachment or more acute in nature). I tend to support adult and adolescent individuals who struggle with identity and marginalization on some level. My background in social advocacy has helped me to understand how nuanced issues really are in the human experience.
About Cat Bilski
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Attachment-based
Sometimes we repeat patterns in our relationships or don't understand why we might "keep attracting the same kind of person". Attachment and relationship patterns often originate from family dynamics. An attachment-based approach facilitates insight and healing through the secure base of the therapeutic relationship. As an attachment-based and relational therapist, I believe that healing happens when there is secure, compassionate and empathic attunement. Learning to regulate emotions and anxiety within relationships is key to building secure attachment.
Psychodynamic
With a psychodynamic approach, you and I build a therapeutic relationship wherein we can explore here and now dynamics that arise that might reflect patterns of beliefs and behaviors present outside of therapy. With this approach, I help clients gain insight into some of these patterns which can facilitate a change in perspective.
Culturally Sensitive Therapy
With a culturally sensitive approach to therapy, I stand alongside you in understanding you and your unique background. You are the expert of your experience in this world. My role is to support an exploration into intersectional identities so that we may be able to name and understand experiences of marginalization and certain privileges that might impact our subjective views of the world and ourselves.
Existential
Sometimes we question our meaning and purpose in life, especially while we experience difficulty and adversity. I support you in being there with you in whatever you are experiencing as an ally and will support you in naming your truth and finding agency in how you choose to respond to life's many obstacles.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an evidence-based treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. I am trained in levels 1 and 2 EMDR therapy and have been providing this form of therapy for 3 years to individuals who have experienced acute traumas (victims of crime, sexual abuse and/or rape, and domestic violence) and people who have experienced milder relational traumas that have impacted their sense of self-hood. I incorporate mindfulness exercises as well as IFS principles with my practice of EMDR therapy.