Anger Management and Counseling in Alachua, FL.

"What are you jumping over when you go to anger?" It's a bridge we jump upon to defend our castle, our heart. Feelings are raging underneath that bridge but most often we simply don't know what they are. Learning to put words to those feelings that are underneath will diffuse the anger. And then equip you to process those more unsettling emotions in a healthy way.

I often coach men on how to better regulate their emotions, including anger. I can teach you strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, provide relationship insights from the Gottman Method, and help you practice calming strategies to take control back. You might have every right to be angry. But if it’s making things worse, it’s time for a change. At Lion Counseling, our mission is to help you escape the cages that hold you back and become the lion God created you to be.

As a culture, we do not do well with healthy expressions of anger. Often we are raised to suppress it and then we have limited practice at dealing with big emotion. There is a spectrum of healthy aggression- to keep us safe and to maintain boundaries- and rage- our body's strategy for safety. Anger management is about applying the right "dosing" to maintain boundaries yet not fracture relationships or suffer other losses. I am able to help you learn to regulate your body to be able to apply the appropriate "dose" to be effective and not destructive.

We help our clients to have greater understanding of themselves and their interactions with others to improve the quality of their relationships. We utilize mindfulness, self-exploration, and self-soothing techniques to help improve clients' emotional regulation skills. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, EMDR or ART, Trauma-Focused CBT, and Existential Therapy are especially helpful for healing trauma and improving interpersonal interactions with others.

Many times anger is the only acceptable emotion, especially for men. Uncovering the feelings, emotions and frustrations that are behind that anger can completely change the dynamic. Let's work to understand what that anger is about and heal it. Decreasing anger can completely change your relationships and increase a sense of calmness and peace in your life. It is never too late to have a happy life.

Anger issues can be so difficult to manage and come out of nowhere. When we work together, we will gently learn the core of the distress that you are experiencing. As we learn your life journey, we may find that some of the distress is rooted in early childhood trauma and attachment wounding. We will invite forth all parts of yourself and learn about the challenging messages you may have grown up with that manifested into the distress you feel today. Our anger can be a messenger, an alarm telling you that it is time to heal experiences from earlier in life. In our work together, we'll use EMDR, Emotion Focused Therapy and Expressive Arts to help you become your most authentic self.