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. It is a complex interactions of everything. 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?
Our first time meeting will be as initial assessment appointment, however, if our schedules will not work or my style fails to match your ideal therapist, then I can submit for you to be reassigned. 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. I do look forward to hearing from you and am very focused on going above and beyond to give you what can help you to create a healthier and happier version of you.
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. I do my best to go above and beyond which includes providing you with resources to help you in this process, and to provide you with a safe and nonjudgmental place to obtain emotional support.
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. Right now, I have some availability including the following: 1) One hour sessions every other Tuesday at 10AM. 2). One hour sessions every other Friday at 10:30 AM 5). If you are more interested in meeting only one time per month, I do have availability at 2PM on the 2nd Friday of each month. Please note, my availability does periodically change to the point where I may have another time open for you to change to, however, once you have an established time slot, I will not give that time slot to anyone else. Given that, my clients all have specific times that they meet with me, so I am usually unable to adjust your session time every week. As availability permits, I can occasionally reschedule you if you have a conflict every now and then.
About Lori Sanderson, PhD
Lori Sanderson, PhD offers therapy covered by Central California Alliance for Health (Medi-Cal), Gold Coast Health Plan (Medi-Cal), L.A. Care Health Plan (Medi-Cal), Orange County Mental Health Plan (Medi-Cal), Partnership HealthPlan of California (Medi-Cal) and San Francisco Health Plan (Medi-Cal) in California.
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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 various distorted thoughts, exploring how your thoughts could be related to past traumatic experiences, exploring various strategies to help you to manage uncomfortable emotions which stem from your thoughts, and looking for ways to reframe your thoughts in a way to help you to find more joy and fulfillment in life.
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 like Jesus Christ was. 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 and other spiritual strengths to aid them to have more self-compassion. 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 use this type of therapy with clients who have chronic pain, in addition with clients who struggle with ongoing anxiety and depression. Another mind-body theory that I use is what is referred to as Polyvagal Theory. I use techniques within this therapy to help you to connect how you are feeling physically to how you are feeling emotionally.
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.