Find a Therapist in Gardendale, Alabama.

As a pastoral psychotherapist, I blend the wisdom of spiritual insight with the knowledge and skills of the psychological disciplines. I work with people wherever they are, offering a nonjudgmental relationship of compassion and care. I respect their decision whether or not to overtly address religious issues in their lives. I was trained from a psychodyamic perspective which pays attention to family-of-origin issues and the ways in which they are present in current day life. I was taught, and believe, that the most important "tool" in psychotherapy is the therapist as a person. The answers for which clients seek are within, and my role is help them find those answers.

For me, this ultimately is a process to return to your birth rite of aliveness. After being born, we encounter myriads of experiences that push us to conform to some external standard. Some of these are beneficial, and some are destructive to our individuality. In psychotherapy, we are aiming for your healthy individuation; so that you have a balance of attention to both your needs and the needs of others. The balance allows you to have wonderfully reciprocal relations with others; so that you are enriched by those relations. I call this balanced aliveness.

Psychotherapy, what does it mean? I believe it to be an umbrella term which describes the basic types of therapy. Such as, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, (how our cognitions affect the way we behave), Behavioral therapy, which is learning more functional behaviors. or Holistic/Gestalt therapy,, being in the "here and now"). Furthermore, Existential therapy, which focuses on meaning making. I am an Eclectic counselor and do not prescribe to just one time of counseling, but use each one for the benefit of my clients and their individual, couple or family needs.