Robin Taufer
Hi.. I'm Robin, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I believe that every client has their own answers. I look at myself as a facilitator to help you find your answers, while sharing some insights and at times giving you homework to help you positively process whatever it is that your struggling with. I use a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach as well as a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) approach. The difference between CBT and DBT is that DBT adds 4 skills, mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. I find these to be the best modalities for short to medium term therapy.
First session
I will do a lot of listening the first session. Finding out what brings the client to therapy and some of the resources they have tried in the past. What worked for them and what didn't work so well. I will give the client a break down of what to expect doing therapy with me and some of the changes we can possibly make. I will give the client empathy and compassion throughout our session. When the client leaves, I hope they had a positive experience, felt heard and have hope for a positive experience working with me for therapy.
Strengths
I am an excellent listener. I don't get in people's faces or tell them that they are wrong or bad. I come in to sessions with compassion and empathy and have heard just about everything you can imagine. I don't judge people. I realize that people have their own path and that they are doing the best they can with the knowledge and tools that they have. I like to introduce new knowledge and new tools when what the client is using isn't working for them anymore. I had to gain more knowledge and new tools to stop my drinking and stop my negative thinking, depression, and to start enjoying my life. That's what I learned in therapy.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is someone who comes in and wants and is willing to make changes. I like clients that are open and honest once they get to know me and realize that they can trust me with anything that's on their mind, things they've done, and things that have been done to them. Then we can start the work.