At Seasons Psychotherapy

these values are the guiding lights in our work

 

Safety

The safety of our clients, first and foremost, means that they feel as safe as possible in our presence.  We build safety through presence, attentiveness, and non-judgement.  Many clients have experienced safety violations in their lives, that they may or may not be consciously aware of and/or have the capacity to express.  Part of our work with clients is to help them restore a sense of safety in themselves and their worlds.  We do this by showing respect for a client’s window of tolerance, and moving at a pace that helps them bring awareness to it, and expand it if and when they are ready.

 

Non-forcing and Non-violence

As therapists at Seasons we do not impose our perceptions, assumptions, preferences, and/or opinions on our clients.  We notice our own biases and ignorances, and we remain open to learning from our clients with humility.

 

Client Choice for Pace and Space

Informed consent involves giving clients control over their therapeutic process, which includes choice of the pacing of their sessions.  We encourage them to build awareness around the amount of space that they need and want between sessions to move through their therapeutic journey safely.  

 

Curiosity

We bring curiosity to our time with each client.  We wonder with them.  We ask mindful and intentional questions. We ask questions about how our questions feel.  We model curiosity as a tool for trust-building, both with others and with the parts of ourselves.

 

Creativity to Meet Needs and Assist in Self-Discovery

As therapists we use creativity, in combination with our attentiveness, to notice the ways in which a client processes and expresses information so we can meet them where they are and be most effective in service of their self-discovery during their time with us.

 

Mindfulness

“The principle of mindfulness refers to the understanding that real change comes about through awareness, not effort” (Ron Kurtz, Founder of the Hakomi Method).  In our time with our clients, we embody a state of non judgemental attention to ourselves and our clients, so that the necessary unconscious material can gently surface.

 

Wholeness and Interconnection: The Mind Body

We acknowledge that the separation of the mind from body is an oppressive, disconnective ideology that creates fragmentation and allows for disempowerment of individuals and society.  At Seasons we work with an understanding of interconnection, we recognize the role and impact of disembodiment, and we serve to support our clients in embodiment as a potentially slow and gentle process of healing.

 

Unity

At Seasons we respect the unity of human beings.  We are living, organic, integral wholes composed of parts.  We see healing as a process that supports separate and often disconnected parts of the system to communicate so they can function as a harmonious whole. We recognize and work with the interdependency of all levels of the human system, including the physical/metabolic, intrapsychic, interpersonal, family, cultural, societal, global, and spiritual.

 

Organicity

At Seasons we understand that when all the parts communicate within the whole, we naturally self-direct, self-correct, and self-actualize. As therapists, rather than imposing our agenda for healing, we support our clients’ organic movement toward wholeness and trust that this is the direction their system will naturally seek (even when it might look like resistance to us).

 

Loving Presence

Loving Presence is the term Ron Kurtz used for the compassionate, open stance of the therapist.  As therapists we can draw on Loving Presence to support our own Safe and Effective Use of Self (SEUS), and realign us with the values of our work.  Loving Presence serves to support the client, as well as the therapist who is also a human and can be triggered in this work.  It allows us to remain connected to our personhood as therapists, which is our most powerful tool.  The practice of Loving Presence arouses the heart to see beauty in suffering and find grace and ease in being with uncertainty. It cultivates a state of appreciation for the inspiring qualities within each human being and, therefore, every client. 

 

Trusting The Process Of Emotions As Information

As Susan David says, the way we engage with our emotions shapes our lives.  As therapists at Seasons, we help clients understand their emotions as physiological processes that deliver information and meaning.  We support their capacity to build a relationship with their emotions, so they can identify them, develop a process of understanding around them, rooted in compassion and curiosity, and learn to make choices in alignment with them.

 

Understanding the Process of Pain

Pain is a biological process that lets us know when something isn’t right, when something is missing, and/or when we need support.  It is both emotional and sensory.  It is a process of information transmission.  It can be excruciating and overwhelming, especially when experienced alone.  At Seasons, our role as therapists is not to avoid, rush through, or fix pain.  We work in alignment with attachment theory, to sit with our clients through their pain process, providing support for clients to be in and with their process to allow the innate wisdom that is available to them in safety to arise.

 

Time

At Seasons we value and trust time as an important element of the healing process, and we practice the patience and trust required to allow our clients to have (and take) the time they need in their healing process.  This includes time (and silence) in sessions, time for truth to be revealed in the therapeutic process (as safety builds), and time between sessions.  Humans in excruciating pain may demonstrate a desire to heal quickly.  As therapists we model slowing down, moment to moment, as a way to heal more deeply.