I have come to know myself as a lover of curiosity, an avid outdoors person, and someone who has an intense interest in better understanding the unique experiences of each person. My work in healing has spanned more than fifteen years and my practice in mental health has been improving for more than five years. I have developed a deep respect for relationships, individuals, and the practices that shape our lives. My experience has me coming to understand that only through asking questions and listening closely can we come to really understand our situation and be seen for who we really are. Through real-life and worldly experience, many different approaches to mental health have come to me. Experience as an outdoor educator and leader has attuned me to the way that experiential mental health can change us on a cellular level through being challenged, playing together, and relating to other people who can give us a different perspective on our lives. As a masseur, breathwork practitioner, yogi, and sound healer I discovered the many ways that somatic approaches, which focus on the body, can help us to find health in a very immediate and powerful way. Working with relationships that have been in conflict or deeply ensnared in struggle with loss or grief has been an honor that enabled me to find critical questions that can re-invigorate relationships by identifying and bringing to life relational values. My experiential/body-oriented/relational approach to mental health is often identified as particularly effective by those who collaborate with me against the problems that have taken up space in their lives. Trauma, depression, anxiety, conflict, relationship troubles, and negative self-concept are a few of the many problems that myself and those who work with me have found ways to overcome. My specializations are in hidden, complex and difficult to overcome problems, which helps with effectively dealing with problems that are straightforward and announce their intentions for people's lives. Honoring the expertise that people who see me bring to their lives and their particular situations has been critical in effectively changing the power relationships that problems have with people.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Our first session will likely be a gentle introduction to our meetings together and a discussion of what our collaborative project might be about. We will develop a deeper knowledge of what is important to you and move towards a description of your experiences that fits your preferences and hopes for your life.
What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?
-Experiential methods involve generating and being present for an experience of yourself or your relationships. Through involved experience and a method of asking questions to reflect on these experiences we will have a greater knowledge of ourselves. -Somatic methods involve the use of sensation, touch, prayer, meditation, and sounds to activate and release trauma or anxiety that have been hanging around unwanted. Questions asked in this context serve to acquaint us with the meaning that our body carries so that we can put it to words and establish effective communication with our body. -Relational methods involve use of questions and relationships to shape our lives around what our preferences are for our life practices and relationships. -Mindfulness methods allow us to shift the platform that we experience the world from. Everyone has their own perspectives of their life. Problems like to keep us constrained to one particular platform that they get to control. Mindfulness exercises and tools help us to take steps away from the viewpoints of problems and towards viewpoints that satisfy what is important to us.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
My biggest strengths are in being open to different understandings of the world and establishing a narrative with people that helps them to situate and reorganize their life experience so that they are living the life they prefer. Asking questions, holding people accountable to their values, using documentation and tools, and finding light or hope in dark places are some of the feedback that has been offered to me as strengths in this particular healing practice.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
-People with experiences of hardship and trauma, -People living with grief, -People who have been labeled as teens, -Adults of all ages, -Psychadelic-affirming individuals, -People who identify as Queer, -Gender non-conforming people, -People who are oppressed by ideas -Relationships who want more say in the lives of their people
About Paul Newland, M.S.
Paul Newland, M.S. offers therapy covered by Blue Shield of California - Medi-Cal, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan (Medi-Cal), CalViva Health (Medi-Cal), Central California Alliance for Health (Medi-Cal), Community Health Plan of Imperial Valley (Medi-Cal), Gold Coast Health Plan (Medi-Cal), Health Net (Medi-Cal), Health Plan of San Joaquin - 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.