General Areas of Practice

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Traumatic events are experienced on both a psychological and physiological level, making the therapeutic work seem like unstacking Russian Nesting Dolls. Knowing this means asking the question, is the individual in a place where exposing oneself to the traumatic material is beneficial or not? Of all the therapy badges and ribbons we have, being trauma therapists is the diagonal sash that holds all the rest. Our expertise in this field means that we don’t waver when it comes to the first step of trauma recovery, which is: assessing and meeting a person where they are in terms of safety and stabilization. Sometimes stabilization is the whole individualized treatment plan—i.e., a stand-alone episode of care (meaning the client graduates therapy after its completion)—and at other times, what is most required is empowering a new sense of self and meaning from the pain. Regardless of the trajectory of treatment—distress tolerance and other dialectical tool, trauma narrative work, or a full tri-phasic cognitive-behavioral plan—the focus of trauma therapy is not on the trauma, per say, but on the individual finding sanctuary from its effects.

The triad of self—mind, body, spirit—is an experiential way of relating to the world or universe. How each person understands their own triad, however, is different for everyone. For some the experience is religious, others it is Humanism, and still yet, there are those whose experience is best left undefined in a quest for what it means to be alive. Spiritual integration in therapy pertains to consideration, not belief—consideration for how the ‘whole’ of you is growing and/or being affected by the ‘whole’ of your life. And it also means consideration that there is something bigger than just you, that is a part of you, and also separate from you.  Where psychology and spirituality meet, the possibility of this consideration is often referred to as a higher actualization of consciousness.  

Spiritual Integration though is not just about holding space for the sublime, it also means examining current religious and spiritual practices that are developmentally stuck—i.e., they have not grown with you, but against you--examples being over-simplistic judgements of “good” and “bad,” spiraling into cycles of shame, and the burnout of perfectionism.

In setting out to become a psychotherapist, Rose purposefully undertook an educational path that provided Spiritual Integration as a framework to developing a holistic approach to counseling theory, that said, when it comes to Spiritual Integration, Rose’s approach is to follow, not lead. This means if a client does not present with religious and spiritual distresses or stated needs in this area, then Spiritual Integration work would not be something clinically indicated to provide. 

It is a common saying nowadays to hear we are “all on the spectrum” or “that is so OCD.” True. We do all have traits; however, having traits is not the same thing as clinically significant presentations related to impairments with executive function (how we manage time, shift tasks, organizational abilities, impulsivity, etc.), social-emotional skills, focus & concentration, and an inability to do something or not due something (given one’s compulsions and obsessions). When these things occur, they can rob us of our days, months, and even years; wherein simple activities of daily living become herculean obstacles. The good news is that these presentations are highly treatable, using evidence-based practices of exposure therapy, finding accommodations that work, and becoming experts of our own biopsychology. What is more, is that when someone begins to gain ground in therapy, what they also discover is that perhaps a little demigod does exist after all, but now provides abilities to hyper-focus on things that can get them ahead, in ways that lap neurotypicals. Restructuring and re-framing the inside though, one’s sense of internal wealth, is life work; and yet signs that it is indeed happening come in when we can embrace the pain of our conscientiousness as a built-in safety-net that people and the world matters, and also that we matter—and that means giving yourself grace to fail, fall, and knock things over in the accidents and mistakes that are apart of the purpose of life.