Individual Counseling
Your stress and anxiety are no longer manageable…
Something needs to change. Deep down, you already know that… the stress and anxiety used to be manageable but not anymore.
You feel wound up all the time – it’s like this twisted, burning, knot in your chest.
You lose your temper easily with those you love, and you feel ashamed of the person you’ve become. You don’t sleep, work is a nightmare, your home life is chaotic, and you’re struggling to figure things out. Your habitual thoughts keep you trapped, and no matter how hard you try, the awful feelings won’t go away.
It’s time to get some help.
One drink has become two, or three, or more…
You used to look forward to that nightly glass of wine to help you unwind after a long day. It was part of your routine. No big deal.
Somewhere along the way, that nightly glass of wine morphed into two or three – sometimes the entire bottle. It’s the only thing that helps you feel better – until it makes you feel worse. You’ve tried to cut back but with little success.
You’ve made promises to yourself and others, but you keep breaking them. You stop for a few days, but then you always seem to go back. Now you’ve started lying about how much you’re drinking, and it seems easier to stay home and drink in private. Your family and friends keep nagging you and saying, “You’ve got a problem.”
You’re starting to think that maybe you need some help.
Once you start eating, you can’t seem to stop…
You look in the mirror and see an overweight, defeated, and miserable person staring back.
Your slacks are too tight. Despite the extra-long untucked shirt, you can’t hide the over-stressed and gaping pants pockets. You are so tired of this. Your frustration turns to anger or tears.
You have tried so many diets. So many times. Sometimes you lose weight on these diets, but then you gain it all back plus another 10 pounds. You want to lose weight so badly. Why can’t you stop yourself from this mindless eating? Why do you always give in to your cravings?
And that’s not the worst of it. Once you start eating, it’s like you can’t stop. You tell yourself you’ve blown it, and before you know it, you’ve polished off a pint of ice cream before moving on to the cookies or chips.
You really want to find a way out of this cycle of mindless eating.
The doctor prescribed those pills so they must be okay…
Your surgery went well, and despite the initial pain, you have healed successfully.
Those pain pills from the doctor helped a lot in the beginning. But then it seemed like they didn’t work as well. So, you had to take one every 3 hours instead of every 4 hours. And then it seemed like you needed to take two pills instead of one. And now you’re having a tough time getting your prescription filled.
You’ve had to go to a different doctor. And then another one after that. And the pain has returned, and it’s worse than ever.
You know you can’t go on like this but aren’t sure what to do.
You have googled “therapist near me” several times…
… but something stops you from making that phone call or scheduling an appointment. You’re still unsure if you truly need therapy. How can a therapist help anyway? It’s not like you’re crazy or nuts.
When it comes to emotions, many of us think we should be able to handle everything that comes our way. After all, in your family, you were taught to be a problem solver – not the one who needs help.
You were given unhealthy mantras like suck it up, keep moving, quit crying, excuses are for losers. This sort of rigid mindset keeps us stuck in a pattern of trying the same solution over and over. Despite having no success, we continue trying the same thing and keep failing, which only leads to more unhealthy behavior.
We never learned to express our emotions healthily, so instead, we ignore them, suppress them, pretend they don’t exist. This suppression of emotions can create intolerable stress and anxiety. We may try to numb these emotions with alcohol, or food, or substances –
Working with a therapist will help you gain insight into your actions and attempts at change so that you can make different choices and achieve your desired outcome. I will teach you to become an observer of your mind, and you will begin to understand the why behind some of your thoughts and behaviors. When you truly understand yourself and the way your brain works, it becomes easier to make lasting change.
I have experience working with addiction and the chronic nature in which we engage to cope with difficult emotions. Whether this involves anxiety, substance abuse, alcohol, or mindless eating – all of these are attempts to soothe some underlying emotional pain.
I teach Mindfulness techniques to help you healthily manage your emotions. You will learn new methods to enhance your awareness of your habitual thoughts and behaviors. You will learn to step out of your habitual responses to stress and make different choices.
No more ineffective and harmful autopilot for you.
Call me today to learn more about changing behavior and healing addiction.
I offer a free 20-minute phone consultation. Let’s chat and see if we would be a good fit to work together: (601) 498-8263.