An integrative approach to individual therapy

Our practice is integrative in two ways. Firstly, we believe health is a natural result of wholeness. Wholeness means having a harmonious balance and dynamic interaction between all our human dimensions.

In our inner world, this means the different parts of our mind, our body, our consciousness and unconsciousness, our spirit or life energy. In our outer world, this means our relationships, our families, our immediate communities, the global community, nature and natural rhythms and processes of life.

When these inner/personal and outer/societal dimensions are disconnected from each other, our wholeness is compromised. When this happens, imbalances and symptoms show up.

Imbalances and symptoms aren’t problems in themselves. They’re signals that point the way towards what needs care and attention. Our philosophy is to move away from pathologizing symptoms and trying to get rid of them; and instead to see them as messengers carrying important information from your internal systems.

Once symptoms are seen in this perspective, it becomes easier to understand what the root cause of the symptom is and heal it. People suffer not because something is inherently flawed with them, but because they’ve been impacted by unsupportive, stressful or traumatic experiences.

Especially if those negative experiences happened in our early years when we are very vulnerable, we can be impacted in ways we don’t fully understand until we have a deeper look at our personal history. Many times, it’s not what happened to us in childhood but what didn’t happen to us - the missing pieces in our development - that we struggle with.

A core aspect of our work is to: explore your suffering and symptoms from this perspective; discover what wholeness and wellness looks like for you; resolve past traumas and wounds that have impacted that wholeness; resist and challenge societal oppressions that impact you; and find ways to nurture your wellness in the present that will also help you create the future you want.

Secondly, our work is integrative in that we blend multiple modalities and therapeutic approaches together in a way that is unique to each client. Healing is a unique process. Some people will benefit more from a somatic approach; others prefer to do more “parts work” (Internal Family Systems); others want tools and practices to focus on between sessions, etc.

Figuring out what works best is an ongoing and collaborative process. Please ask us any questions if you're curious!