Psychodynamic Therapists in Brenham, TX

Everyone needs a safe space to talk about life's difficult moments. Creating that safe/non-judgemental space is my primary goal in every session. Using a supportive and collaborative approach, I aim to help you develop insight and awareness into your struggles in order to foster healing and growth. I believe in meeting you where you are and walking beside you throughout your journey of enlightenment.

The possibilities for change, healing, and well-being often aren't trusted if you are dealing with depression, anxiety, relationship issues, or difficult circumstances. My goal is to provide support and safety for you to explore and understand problems with emotions, relationships, and painful past and present experiences. It is possible to come to terms with difficult issues, accept (not like) these human experiences, and move through them to change.

If you have been through traumatic experiences that are getting in the way of you living your life authentically, I would love to support you in regaining a sense of control over your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. If you have experienced loss, I would love to help you learn how to move through grief, rather than avoid it. If you find that you fall into codependent patterns in relationships, I would love to collaborate with you around boundary setting and self-care.

Mental health challenges or relationship problems, are experiences that can affect your ability to cope effectively. The joy of living a healthy life and maintaining healthy relationships, are very much achievable or attainable. The journey to get there consists of moments that are experienced through the support and guidance of psychotherapy. Participation in psychotherapy is a self-empowering decision and shows your willingness for change through growth.

I tend to be a good fit for people recovering from or currently struggling with an emotionally abusive person, such as a Narcissist. We want to unbind ourselves from the resultant negative patterns, anxiety, shame, depression, confusion and/or limiting self talk. We may find ourselves attracted to partners, friends, and even careers where we feel unhappy, inauthentic, & exhausted. Perhaps we have becomel codependent, misuse substances, or neglect our health. Our goals are met with road blocks. Practicing boundaries, improving self-esteem, and working through our fears heals wounds, releases shame, and promotes mindful choices.

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor with special training and interest in areas of marriage and relationships, postpartum depression, separation and divorce, parent-child relations and women's issues. In my practice I strive to create a compassionate, respectful and trusting environment in which clients feel comfortable to explore their individual experiences. I conduct individual, couples, and family therapy, which includes practice with adults, adolescents, and children.

Sometimes we all need extra support or a safe place to turn when life seems overwhelming or confusing. Therapy can offer that support and provide a place to talk about things that may be difficult to share with anyone else. Whether you are struggling with life changes, feelings of sadness and anxiety, a sense of "stuckness", or ready to heal past traumas, therapy can and does provide relief and a new way of living.

My deepest professional aspiration is to enable others to discover their own motivations for change and to find within themselves the ability to take responsibility for their thought life and thus find the power to take actions and thereby make dramatic and transformative changes in their lives. In working with individuals, couples, and groups, my aim is to foster self-esteem, coping skills and encourage building positive and supportive relationships. I work with individual clients, couples, and lead weekly therapy groups. Deep lasting change that is already beginning iswithin your grasp. Reach out, I'd be honored to work with you.

Mary works with individuals and couples to address attachment and emotional enmeshment, performance anxiety, moral injury and religious trauma, personality dynamics, and systems that cause people to feel stuck in life and relationships. Using an eclectic, psychodynamic approach to postmodern and constructivist theories, clients can expect to find meaning in problem solving and strengthen interpersonal relationships outside of therapy. In doing so, Mary integrates humor and everyday language in evidence-based therapies to educate clients along the way.

Navigating the decision to engage in the therapeutic process can feel overwhelming and intimidating. However, the journey can be one of great reward. Treatment begins with an understanding of you as a unique individual; through collaboration as well as active engagement the process of individual, couple, family, or group therapy evolves. Therapy includes exploration of your past and present relationships, experiences, and struggles so that a deeper understanding of self can be achieved. Greater self-awareness allows for the opportunity to make intentional choices, increased confidence in your authentic self, and navigation of future struggles in an effective way.

There are moments in life when we feel stressed, lost, or overwhelmed. Feeling alone in our struggles can be disheartening. Whether you’ve come to this place because life circumstances have shifted, the day-to-day feels too strenuous to manage, or you’re hurting in some way, we all have unique strengths that can help us navigate these challenges. Therapy is one way to foster those strengths, and when we are given a warm and trusting therapeutic space, we can often find harmony and solutions to our struggles. I focus on helping individuals with anxiety, depression, stress, shame, grief, life transitions, or relationship struggles.

I help ambitious women gain clarity and empowerment through their mental health struggles. I work with the woman dealing with relationship issues, anxiety, trauma, and body image dissatisfaction. The truth is, I’m more like you than you can imagine. I know life can be hard. But that’s where courage comes in to attend therapy.

I spent years struggling alone; feeling like it was all up to me. I had gotten myself into this situation and I was going to get myself out of it. But I was wrong. I finally made the choice to reach out and try something different; to ask for help.

We can’t get around suffering sometimes in this life, but we can learn to live with dignity and grace, and we can know joy. Whether you are having questions of a spiritual nature, feeling stuck in your life, or needing to be free of deep and abiding pain, I stand ready to walk with you on the path of healing. I can say this with confidence because I have made this journey myself. My own experience with therapy helped me to understand that human beings are not machines that break and need to be fixed. They are beings that course correct; they mold and are molded by their environment.

At the heart of my work, I approach therapy from a relational, psychodynamic therapy model, which means I believe the relationship between the client and therapist can be a transformative component in the growth process. I am a LPC combining modern neurobiology with holistic somatic healing, the psychodynamic therapeutic relationship, and body-based practices to create an experiential awakening on a bodily, psychological and emotional level. I work from a somatic-centered therapeutic approach, meaning that I believe that the body tells the stories and narratives. For more information, my website is: www.kellypastori.com

I recognize the significance of therapy as a vital instrument, not just for preventing and treating mental disorders but also for enhancing the overall quality of people's lives. With more than 15 years of experience as a licensed counselor in Brazil and two years as an LPC - Associate in Texas, I possess fluency in both Portuguese and English, enabling me to communicate adeptly with diverse populations. I strongly uphold the transformative potential of the therapeutic relationship, and my objective is to offer counseling that facilitates positive life changes for individuals.