Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy

We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness, which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we must come at last to regard the world.

– MARCEL PROUST

I am here to help you explore the terrain of your being, your mind-body-soul connection, as we address the wounds and challenges you face in your life. Rather than searching “out there” for direction and answers, I will guide your awareness into your sensing body and emotional realms because within our symptoms is the language of our psyche beckoning to be heard, integrated, and restored. This is central to a richly embodied, resilient soul-life filled with meaning, purpose, and wisdom.

Our symptoms lead us on a journey of exploration that helps us communicate with the parts of us that we often bypass. Modern life and even spiritual practices often take people away from the vital depths, the nether regions, of ourselves that can hold the keys to healing.

I honor, attune, and attend to the unique unfoldment of your own innate healing intelligence, and allow the therapy to emerge through a combination of dialogue, Somatic Experiencing®, Jungian dream analysis, active imagination, sandplay, and breathwork. These catalyze the body’s energies and the unconscious perspectives that need to be integrated.

Somatic Jungian-oriented psychotherapy is more than a set of techniques; it is a perspective which holds that psyche and soma (the body) are inseparable and must be worked with simultaneously, in order to become a more conscious, more whole human being. The essence of this work, moving towards wholeness, is what C. G. Jung called individuation or the life-long task of development. This is a process of realization of a distinctive expression of oneself often depicted as a hero’s journey that culminates in transformation and the achievement of wisdom. This is a far more intricate process of self-realization than embraced by popular culture. It involves a growing intimacy with our deepest self.

I work with a variety of ages and concerns specializing in: trauma resolution, grief and loss, life transitions, end-of-life issues, anxiety and depression, the mid-life journey, and dark night of the soul initiations. I also host integration of non-ordinary states of consciousness and spiritual emergence.

In addition, for over three decades I have been teaching and mentoring parents in a humanistic parenting style that teaches and supports parents in understanding the neurobiological basis of children’s emotions, the importance of closeness and connection, discipline without punishments or rewards, and helping children heal from stress and trauma.

I am licensed as a marriage and family therapist in California (LMFT #9048).

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness Conscious.

– C.G. JUNG

Carol’s commitment  to holding a safe, compassionate, candid, and loving space has been key in guiding and supporting me on the path to self-knowledge, discovery, acceptance, and love.

The somatic work we’ve done together has transformed the way I handle strong or difficult emotions. I’ve gained a greater awareness of my body’s wisdom, learned to trust signals, to balance, inform, and then deal with my emotions by noticing them and allowing them to move through me. Somatic experiencing has also allowed me to resolve childhood stories, gain an embodied sense of what they mean, and then move past or integrate them. As a result, I’ve experienced greater levels of serenity and internal peace.

Used in conjunction with somatic experiencing, dream work has also helped me deepen my self-understanding. I have been able to identify what’s mine, what isn’t, my true beliefs, and my long-standing wounds. By shining a light on the unconscious, I’ve been able to discover and understand myself better.

M.J.
VETERINARIAN
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA