MY SPECIALTIES
INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING
In our individual therapy sessions, we will identify your strengths, explore the areas of your life you want to improve and the wounds you are looking to heal. We will work together as partners in healing with the goal of co-creating a satisfying and fulfilling life. I will help you develop the tools you need to navigate your emotional triggers and overcome life's challenges. We will build coping skills, explore possibilities, and celebrate your success. By using a holistic approach in our sessions , we will focus on your whole being – mind, body, and spirit. We will discover how your thoughts, emotions, habits, lifestyle, health, and wellness practices directly impact your life.
VEGETALISMO
Vegetalismo is the practice of connecting deeply with Master Plant Teachers in the context of a dieta combined with ceremonial practice. This tradition evolved from tribal shamanism and healing traditions in the Amazon rainforest, and is still practiced today. Vegetalismo is a powerful practice of healing with the assistance of these Master Plant Teachers. I bring groups to Peru to experience these deep mysteries with my Maestros in the jungle, and integrate these expanded states while working in a local context. For more information about this practice, please reach out directly to schedule a consultation.
WALK & TALK / ECOPSYCHOLOGY
Walk & Talk therapy is a form of ecopsychology that incorporates therapeutic interactions with walking in nature. Ecopsychology, interacting mindfully with the natural world, promotes calm, groundedness, embodied connection, and motivation towards healing. In these challenging times, meeting for a Walk & Talk session is a safe way to connect in person. Ecotherapy is a therapeutic tool to invigorate your physical body while exploring your mental landscape in a way that can improve nervous system function and emotional regulation. Having regular access to the outdoors lifts the mood, decreases feelings of isolation, and improves self-awareness and consciousness.
HOLOTROPIC BREATHWORK
Holotropic Breathwork was developed by Stanislav and Christina Grof as a means of accessing expanded states of consciousness and connecting with our inner healing intelligence. This method involves utilizing deeper, faster breathing combined with evocative music in a setting with trained facilitators to support you on your journey. There is a somatic component as well as expressive arts work to begin facilitation of your integration. No two sessions are the same, and participants are able to connect with transpersonal states, identify, and metabolize deep issues they may not be able to access in traditional talk therapy. I currently offer regular weekend workshops in Sebastopol, California at Open Sky Retreat Space. Please email me at sageandspiritcounseling@gmail.com for upcoming dates and to register. For more information or to search local workshops by myself and other certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitators, please go to https://holotropic-association-na.org/
DEATH AND DYING
Have you been diagnosed with a terminal illness? Are you or a loved one facing end-of-life decisions? Are you grappling with how to support someone who has been given a terminal diagnosis? Let me help. I will support you as you move through your anxiety and fears, and learn to accept and embrace end-of-life. I use a person-centered approach to death and dying that focuses on the significance of spirituality and meaning making as important resources for coping with emotional and existential suffering as you near death. My hope is that you will be able to actively and positively participate in the process of dying, including planning how you would like to have your end of life celebration and who you want involved in decision-making.
TRAUMA, PTSD, AND C-PTSD
Trauma can manifest itself in a variety of ways and may emerge from different experiences, whether it’s sexual abuse and/or exploitation, a car accident, physical or emotional abuse or neglect, the sudden death of a loved one, a violent criminal act, the violence of war, or a natural disaster. You may have experienced one traumatic event or had a series of events that continue to impact your life long after the event has passed. You may be having intrusive memories, flashbacks, or sleep disturbance. All these things are normal responses to trauma. The foundation of my therapeutic framework is trauma-informed care. This means meeting you right where you are and moving at your pace through identifying and resolving both direct and vicarious trauma. I know that trauma affects us all, including those in the healing professions and frontline workers who experience compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma in the line of their careers. I am here for you!
MINDFULNESS
We are so often disconnected from our bodies and emotions, rushing through each day from one thing to another, that we don't allow ourselves the time to notice the world around us. Utilizing mindfulness practice helps us build new neural pathways in our brains, and has been proven to help with anxiety, depression, trauma, symptoms of psychosis, chronic pain, and emotion regulation. In our sessions, I will help you reconnect to your breath and your body. We will calm your mind and help you be in the present moment by using mindfulness practice. You will develop a set of tools that you can use anytime and anywhere to help you reconnect with a feeling of safety, expansiveness and relaxation.
GRIEF AND LOSS
Throughout the course of our lives, we all experience loss. Feelings of grief and loss are often associated with death, but may also surface after a loss of another kind. Grief may enter your life as the loss of a loved one, a relationship, a pregnancy, a pet, or a job. You may be feeling ecological grief as so many are during these times. It is possible to be experiencing a storm of many difficult feelings all at the same time, or feel buried by a single painful emotion. Healing from grief is not a straight line and everyone copes with it differently. I will join you in your recovery process and help you navigate your way to the other side.
