Let's be honest, asking for help or assistance is difficult. Good news is that you have taken the first and most difficult step towards improving your current situation by simply reaching out and exploring options! For this I commend you! We all struggle at one time or another in our lives, I am here to help you navigate THROUGH those struggles rather than avoiding or attempting to maneuver around them. By walking alongside you offering support, guidance and teaching new skills you will learn the benefit of sticking with the discomfort to get to the otherside. My goal is to provide a comfortable, empathetic and supportive environment to explore these struggles and develop new ways or improving old coping skills to help you navigate the situation at hand. If you are ready to stop running away from, hiding or avoiding your issues and concerns, I am here to help you move through the anxiety, worry, hopelessness, frustration or despair and find more peace and ease on the other side of the scenario. Let's connect so we can start on your new journey today!
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I am a firm believer in starting where YOU are at. You are the expert on yourself, you know yourself best! Therefore, in our first session I will get to know more about you and your situation, we will explore therapeutic styles and interventions that might best fit your needs and personality. We will determine if we are a good fit to continue to work together and begin exploring goals should you determine moving forward is what is right for YOU.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I think my biggest strength as a provider is my flexibility and empathy. I work with clients where they are at and I don't come into sessions with preset expectations for the client. This is your journey and I am her to assist you as much or as little as you need at times. I have worked with an array of clients with varying concerns over my 14 years in practice which allows me to adapt my expertise to your situation at hand.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
Many of my clients come to me struggling with anxiety, negative core beliefs, low self esteem caused by previous negative experiences in relationships, childhood or traumatic and difficult experiences. This anxiety or hopelessness can lead to problems in relationships, problems at work or school, insomnia or lack of social engagement. I love to help individuals identify what is causing their current feelings explore previous ways of coping and teaching new ways to reach the goals they have for themselves!
About Jennifer Elkins
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VirtualMy treatment methods
EMDR
EMDR is a form of therapy that utilizes bilateral stimulation (BLS). EMDR utilizes various forms of BLS including eye movements, tapping or auditory tones to accelerate the brain's capacity to process and heal a troubling memory, thought, feeling or phobia. BLS stimulates the same types of eye movements which occur in Rapid Eye Movement or REM/dream sleep. BLS causes two parts of the brain to work in conjunction in order to reintegrate or process a memory, thought or feeling. After a traumatic event or memorable and impactful incident, our brains are naturally built to recover. Many times, these traumatic events or memories are able to be resolved by our brain communicating between the amygdala (alarm signals for stressful events) and hippocampus (learning side of the brain which stores memories, specifically ones regarding danger) and the prefrontal cortex (assists with managing behaviors and emotions). Other times, our brains may need a little extra help. If we experience a stressful event, our brain will naturally go into fight, flight or freeze responses. These can show up in many different ways such as running, dissociation, avoidance etc. When the distress from the brain remains with us, our brain has not been able to fully process the original event. Our emotional side of our brain tries to dominate the logical side. This can look like experiencing nightmares, intrusive negative thoughts, emotions etc. What we feel becomes a core belief. The core belief is then filter for how we experience our life. New experiences may be altered by this core belief or filter, even if they are not correlated or related at all! This is where EMDR steps in to aid the brain in reprocessing the original event, memory, or emotion. In turn our brain is able to resume processing in the “normal” or typical way it should function.MDR can be utilized with clients of most ages address several different areas: Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias Chronic Illness and medical issues, pain Depression and bipolar disorders, self-doubt, insecurities Disordered Eating, weight loss Grief and loss Performance anxiety, public speaking Personality disorders PTSD, trauma, sexual assault, violence and abuse Relationship issues: fear of conflict, fear of confrontation Sleep disturbance Substance abuse and addictions, codependency
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational Interviewing starts where the client is, we explore your personal values, your desires and what is currently occuring in your life. Often times individuals come to therapy when their values/desires do not match up with what is currently happening in their life, they are looking for a change but having difficulty either implementing that change or making progress with the change. Motivational Interviewing helps to explore areas that you may have not looked at in the past and identify barriers and at times readapting expectations or goals. This is a very client centered, driven approach. I work alongside you in the process, helping you to explore rather than being directive.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is helpful with an array of symptoms and issues an individual may be experiencing, specifically depression and anxiety. CBT looks at situations that have occured or may occur, your thoughts, emotions, fears or worries around those situations, your reactions and then we examine the evidence that supports these thoughts or worries, we explore alternative thoughts and impletment new thoughts which will hopefully create new behaviors.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
Solution Focused Therapy can be helfpul for individuals that are time limited. With Solution Focused Therapy we center therapy around the current issue, and finding strengths and resources to help you address the issue at hand. There is less processing of an individuals's past or history and rather a focus on current and future goals.
Gottman method
I utilize Gottman methods to assist individuals in addressing relationship issues whether this be with their partners or children. This method explores current communication patterns within the relationship, explores common traps in these communication patterns and implementing more effective communication styles.