Dissociative Disorders (DID) Therapists in Charlottesville, VA

It's hard for anyone to talk about personal issues. Anyone brave enough to do this launches themselves into a life giving process that increases the possibilities of their lives forever. It brings about unbelievable changes opening possibilities never thought of. It's hard work. It's scary. But it teaches one to live effectively with what life has brought and create changes that enhance the life that is. It's a journey into the good and the bad that takes a person to new heights. It's an exploration that creates love and light in a life.

Art is our medicine. Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the process of art making to support you in understanding yourself better and allow you to safely externalize what you have experienced or survived. You can use the art to manage or reduce your undesired symptoms so you can find a better quality of life. (No experience with art materials is necessary). As board certified art therapists and certified trauma therapists, we are dedicated to supporting you in using the most effective methods and materials to cope, change and recover.

I believe we all just want to do, feel and be a little better every day. I use an approach based in kindness, compassion, mindfulness and strength to help you find a way to be better everyday in your life and your relationships. I will help you explore emotional lability, past trauma, feeling stuck, and lack of hope for a better future. Grief, fear and feeling overwhelmed often stops us from being the best we can be. If you want to move towards a better you, I can offer some help

I focus on individual Trauma, Couples, and Family. With years of family and individual work I've developed a flexible ability to meet adult and teen needs from parenting, marital, to trauma and developmental transitions of life. My work is informed from an attachment approach where I seek to create safety with you to untie negative relational patterns and move into greater awareness and courage. I assist you in rediscovering your resiliency to pull you beyond the old patterns. To assist my clients when balance is upset by an underlying issue of trauma, my training in AEDP coupled with EMDR and somatic approaches is well suited.

Currently Accepting New Clients! Safe and trusting relationships are the context in which we most often experience healing — especially when we have been wounded by others. I believe that earning and maintaining your trust is foundational for the counseling process. I seek to provide a compassionate, genuine, calm, & steady presence, so that you can feel safe & supported as you engage in the important and challenging work of therapy. I am most excited when my clients can see their own strengths and realize that they are capable of facing and releasing past wounds in order to grow and heal in ways that used to seem impossible.

I work with individuals and couples to help them actualize their innate qualities of goodness and wholeness. I support people who are overwhelmed with stress, anxiety, or depression, in order to help them learn to transform their life challenges into opportunities for healing and growth. Individuals and couples will learn to recognize behaviors that keep them stuck and are provided with tools to help them process difficult emotions and connect and communicate more effectively and lovingly. Through establishing a caring therapeutic relationship clients can become more confident and secure within themselves.

Working with us you'll get results. Because we believe you're best served by a clinician who's passionate about not only their work, but who they work with as well. That's why we started Lifebulb - We're committed to building an organization that truly allows therapists to get back to enjoying their work, so you, our client, can receive the highest quality therapy services, whether in person at one of our locations or online through telehealth. We hire only highly trained and educated, licensed clinicians dedicated to the therapy process. We're confident we can help you achieve your therapy goals.

Working with couples and men is awesome. My clients always surprise me with their intelligence and strength, even if muted by their immediate troubles. Focusing on the connection the couple does have, we can work on the skills to being our own individual within the relationship. Working with men often involves negotiating the contradictions the world presents, attending to power differentials and how they impact our inner world, discovering where our habits developed and how we want to change and grow who we are in the world. I utilize a multitude of maps to offer my clients impactful and effective interventions.

Others may tell you all the time how great your life must be and how you always seem to have it together, but deep down, you know this could not be further from the truth. Every day, you feel like you are carrying a huge secret and feel pressure to be someone you are not. You look in the mirror and don't recognize who you see. You feel out of place and like you don't belong anywhere. This is exhausting and you don't have anything left to give. You don't have to pretend anymore.

I provide therapy from the belief that therapy is a collaborative journey in which, together, we identify what gets in the way of life goals. Then we create a vision along with a plan to go from where you are to where you want to be in their life. I have participated in extensive training as a family and couples therapist with over 10 years of practice experience. Families in which one member exhibits the symptoms of ADHD, ADD, oppositional and defiant behaviors, impulsive and violent behaviors, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and learning disabilities work well with me.

Everyone can improve and succeed regardless of any struggles or trauma a person may encounter. I aim to help clients heal past traumas, strengthen relationships with themselves and others, work through difficult emotions, and find their inner strength. I believe inherently in the resiliency of the human spirit. We have the power to recover, to heal, to grow, and to learn. My goal is to help you understand the problems that you are facing and allow you the space to solve them so that you may transform into the best version of yourself.

***Please note that calls and emails are answered by my intake coordinator, Madeline Schultz.*** I work with individuals, couples and families collaborating with them to reach their goals. These goals range from finding relief from depression, anxiety, past trauma, and addiction to finding deeper joy and satisfaction in work, leisure and relationships. I have specialized training in individual and family therapy, couples therapy, and sex therapy. I provide a safe environment for people to reflect on their lives with curiosity and compassion and make desired changes based on this reflection.

Feelings of sadness and anxiety from unhealed loss and unresolved life circumstances can cripple our capacity to manage our lives. This work offers clarity through tools that deal directly with life changes and the effects of trauma and addictions. With an overall focus on life transitions and jarring wake-up calls that challenge who we believe ourself to be, the work creates Ah Ha experiences and insights that release blocks and bring us home to ourselves - body, mind, emotions, spirit. Individuals. Couples. Groups. Workshops. Retreats. Intuition guides the work which is backed by 30 years of intense clinical specialty with addictions, trauma and dis-ease.