Life Transitions

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”
Socrates

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
Henry David Thoreau

 Are You Experiencing A Life Crisis or Transition?

Have you experienced a recent loss that makes daily living difficult? Has the birth of a baby raised feelings of anxiety or depression that make relating to your partner or child a challenge? Has a move, job transfer or change caused you to feel in limbo? Did a sudden or chronic health problem change how you see yourself and your feelings of self-worth?

These are but a few of the life transitions or crises that bring people to seek the support and help of a seasoned psychologist. Transitions are difficult. How we react to transitions is determined by our histories of loss, upheaval, family and relationships. I provide a framework to safely address and explore the issues or concerns that you bring to therapy.

Chrysalis: Something Feels Terribly Wrong

Often, in the midst of a transition or crisis, you might feel frightened, unmoored and a pervasive lack of control. Your sense of identity may feel like a fault line in an earthquake that is constantly shifting and you no longer recognize yourself. You may struggle with feelings of anxiety or depression that surface at the beginning or in the middle of the transition. The often-quoted Chinese proverb about crisis representing both danger and opportunity is clarified in the context of an unfolding and ongoing therapy. As you face your fears, your vulnerabilities, your long-buried feelings or your changing situation, you emerge from therapy feeling stronger, more resilient, open, and compassionate.

Metamorphosis: Change, a Human Condition with Latent Possibilities:

Change will happen to you whether or not you invite it. Life is about transitions and sometimes we weather them with grace, while other times change can throw us into a state of anxiety, depression or existential crisis. Sometimes, we may desire change, and yet not know how to instigate or navigate it.

I welcome the opportunity to lend my years of training and experience as a practicing psychologist, and to collaborate with you during this time of upheaval. Together, we will deepen your understanding of who you are and why you are reacting to this transition or stress in this particular way. How do your past experiences inform us about this current situation? Are there deeper root causes that shed light on how you are responding physiologically and psychologically?

Transitions, when addressed effectively help define and clarify who you wish to become and your current and future choices. The therapeutic process enables you to move forward in a conscious, thoughtful and compassionate manner (towards your self and others). I provide a careful and thorough evaluation taking into consideration psychological, medical, social and cultural influences. In addition, I believe in the coordination and collaboration of your care. If referrals to other healing professionals are needed or recommended, I will make every effort to provide an appropriate referral.

How Therapy Can Help With Your Transition:

I provide individually tailored therapy pulling from an array of Therapeutic Approaches. I work in collaboration with you and at a pace that feels safe and respectful. Here are a few of the categories of life transitions that I treat:

  • Wellness and Health
  • Chronic Conditions
  • Loss/Grief (Please visit the specialty page on this subject)
  • Career Decisions (conflicts, roles, promotions, moves)
  • Coming Out (to self and others)
  • Relationships (familial, friendships, partners)
  • Pregnancy
  • Parenting (transitions, approaches, fostering secure attachments)
  • Separation/Divorce
  • Peri/Menopausal Changes
  • Empty Nest
  • Retirement (re-composing a life)
  • Aging

The Colors of Change: Coming to Therapy

 Over the 20 some years of private practice, I have garnered several reliable and noteworthy insights with regard to life transitions. I am humbled and honored to witness the strength and determination that people bring to their unique journey through rather difficult emotional terrain. I am repeatedly struck by the human ability to heal and to arrive at a place of shared meaning, openness, compassion, awareness, and to actually flourish (not just survive).

I provide a warm, curious, non-judgmental, relationally focused place for you to work on the goals, conflicts, situations and symptoms we collaboratively agree upon addressing. I utilize an array of therapeutic approaches from an integrative and holistic perspective: psychodynamic, attachment-focused EMDR, somatic and mindfulness techniques.

Do I Really Need Therapy For A Life Transition?

Life transitions are complex, and oftentimes, raise feelings of anxiety, self-doubt and confusion. Transitions can be further complicated by experiences and relationships in your background that get triggered by what is currently happening in your life. Seeking therapy to understand and process through what this transition means to you, to reprocess old wounds that may be interfering with decision-making and considering the situation through a non-distorted lens imposed upon by your past, is an important part of creating a healthy, dynamic future.

Taking The Next Step:

 A life well lived ensures that you will face multiple transitions over the course of your lifetime. If you are facing one now that feels unmanageable or that produces anxiety and depression then seeking help from a therapist who can provide a place of safety, containment, understanding, coping techniques and symptom reduction is the next step. No one should have to “manage” these difficult times alone or without the proper care.

Please Contact Me if you have any questions or to schedule an appointment.

 

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
Albert Einstein

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go and not be questioned.”
Maya Angelou