Hello! My name is Dr. Lori Sanderson. You can call me either Lori or Dr. Sanderson. I do not have a preference. I enjoy looking at your thoughts and how they are contributing to your stress anxiety level, physical pain level, or overall feelings of sadness. How you think contributes to how you feel and behave. How you behave also contributes to how you feel. I will meet you where you are but will also help you to develop a stronger and healthier version of you. We will do this together by helping you to get to the root of your struggles and giving you the tools to get through it. I am a big proponent of giving you the tools to help you to become a stronger you. You deserve somewhere that you can share what is on your mind without fear of being judged negatively. You deserve a better life and a healthier you. You are worth every minute of it, so if you are willing, I would love to have the opportunity to take you on this new journey.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I would love if our first time talking could be a screening call to see if our schedules will work and my style matches your ideal therapist. Overall though, in our first session together, we will start with brief introductions and then dive into the specific challenges that you're facing. This will help me to create a tailored plan for us to work on in our sessions together. I see treatment goals as a very collaborative process.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Some of my biggest strengths include helping those with chronic pain, body image issues, and generally helping you uncover how your past might relate to your current struggles and how to overcome them or perhaps even manage them better. With greater understanding of how things connect to your prior experiences and skills to manage the challenges life gives you, you can be more able to live or positively experience life to its fullest. Keep in mind that this type of therapy can be stressful at times and a lot of work but the benefits exceed the stress. However, if you are looking more for a supportive type of therapy, then I can also provide that as well, but I'll need to know that ahead of time.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I am open to all clients. I have seen a lot of clients with chronic pain, body image issues, perfectionism, anxiety, depression and other mood disorders, etc. I am more available in the morning and very early afternoon time of day Tuesday through Thursdays. Unfortunately, I am not able to provide any late afternoon, evening, or weekend appointments at this time and I do not have any late afternoon appointments right now. The only thing I have is a 9:00 a.m. Tuesdays for a 12:00 p.m. and a 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday that are available for each week. I do have an 8:00 a.m. appointment for every other week on Thursdays as well.
About Lori Sanderson, MPH, PhD,
Specializes in
Serves ages
Licensed in
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Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Some of my tools that I frequently turn to include creative journaling or doing what they call a brain dump, letter writing, meditation practice, workbooks, challenging your thoughts by looking at the various distortions within your thoughts and challenging them using adaptive thinking strategies. This is referred to as cognitive restructuring.
Christian Counseling
As a Christian, I believe that it is easy to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be a certain way or to be perfect. This is especially the case in many organized religions. If my client is a practicing Christian and finds it as a support, then I try to help the client to use this to aid them to have a greater sense of love for themselves and others, no matter what their imperfections. If my clients do not practice Christian beliefs, I do not use this as a support but take more of a psychological perspective.
Mind-body approach
In a very shame-based society, compassion is very important in motivating ourselves to be the best version of ourselves. I work with my clients to help them to apply this within their given experiences. I also use a mind-body approach that is referred to as pain reprocessing therapy, this is a type of therapy that looks at the mind body connection and uses tools to help the client to manage not only physical pain but to also manage anxiety and depression or other forms of mood disorders. I am currently in the process of getting a certification in this type of therapy but have been practicing it and learning about it in the meantime. I use this type of therapy with clients who have chronic pain in addition with clients who struggle with ongoing anxiety and depression.
Daialectical Behavior (DBT)
I have used some of the dialectical behavior therapy tools such as emotion regulation skills, distress tolerance etc, of which I usually assist the client to apply it to their specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that they are experiencing. I have been trained in this type of therapy and am currently in the process of obtaining a certification as well.
Polyvagal Therapy
I typically will help my clients to understand their body's fight/flight/freeze response so that they can better recognize when a situation leads them to feel distressed or uncomfortable. The Polyvagal approach specifically has individuals check in with their bodies' response to various situations in order to help them to gain insight into their behaviors, feelings, and overall thoughts. I have some clients that are unaware of their body's response to their emotions, so this type of therapy helps them to have a better connection between their mind and body. Then I can add strategies to help them to manage their physical symptoms as well as their emotional symptoms.