Kris O'Shee

My approach to therapy is integrative and eclectic. I find it useful to draw on a variety of new and traditional modalities. I bring together somatic psychotherapy, expressive arts therapy, and various psychodynamic and psychoanalytic approaches. Every person is different. What happens in a session can vary from client to client, or even from session to session. I draw on a range of skills and techniques in working with trauma, anxiety, and depression. For example, in managing stress and panic attacks, I've found it can be very helpful to practice relaxation techniques such as meditation, breathing, and guided imagery. In these experiences one can sometimes get beyond troublesome thoughts once the body, the actual musculature, becomes relaxed. Or, if a client is having difficulty verbalizing a feeling or articulating a thought, it can be helpful to turn to more expressive activities like drawing or writing, or movement. I usually take the first few sessions to get to know my clients, to find out what they want from therapy, what changes they hope to make. Through listening, and listening deeply, I begin to form ideas of how I can help each client become more aware of how their bodies are holding stress or how emotions are being blocked. I often work with client's dreams. Each of us has a story, a past, a cast of characters that has impacted our lives. How these figures live in us is often revealed in dreams, and, while dreams can be perplexing, even terrifying, they can also serve as a doorway into thoughts and feelings we aren't always able to access in our waking lives. So there are many ways to tap into the unconscious, to learn how to relate to the forces within us, to calm disturbing thoughts, to learn how to express ourselves and to ease our pain--to heal.