Radical* Psychotherapy for Highly Sensitive People in Oregon & Washington
*Radical: rad·i·cal | \ ˈra-di-kəl: favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions
I specialize in helping Highly Sensitive People, especially GenX & Millennials to transform their anxiety, overwhelm & self-blame into the clarity, self-esteem and personal authority to create the fulfilled, purpose-driven, soul-centered life of their dreams.
What Does it Mean to be Sensitive?
You walk into a party and rather then just noticing (as most do) where the food & booze is
: heading there now- I see quac,
you also feel the tension between the hosts
: hmm, they were just fighting, I wonder if I can help?
you know that the friend you just waved at is feeling self conscious
: I’ll have to remember to tell her how awesome she is.
Pat from book club is throwing some sort of weird energy-suck vibe at you
: ugg, I’ll have to deal with that later,
& they’ve completely remodeled the kitchen and nobody has noticed
: it used to be yellow and now it is robin’s blue-so pretty!
All that in just in the first scan of the room. That is what you are processing in the space of a typical person making a beeline for the spread and getting excited about the guacamole.
That doesn’t even include all the other thoughts you have about yourself! Your own anxieties, feelings, social phobias… fear of dropping quac down your shirt, etc. And now you feel responsible for helping the people you saw were distressed. And when you choose to enjoy the party (instead of saving everyone else), you feel guilty.
You think there is something wrong with you for not being able to socialize as easily and/or needing more alone/down time. Maybe you think you are weak and over sensitive, you just need to toughen up and not take everything personally. You push yourself to fit in with your families and friends, (whom we love) but you wish it didn’t all take so much damn effort!
Of course something is fundamentally Wrong with you.
Nope.
You have unique abilities that only manifest in 15-20% of people. You are doing a buttload* more cognitive sensory processing then the typical person. You aren’t weak, you just do more work in the same time frame. Put a hamster and a guinea pig in side-by-side wheels, and that hamster will be working much harder to go the same distance. A hamster is not better or worse than a guinea pig, just different. But it is easy to feel a little hopeless when it appears that everyone is a guinea pig and you are a lonely hamster (but one of those cool ones in the fancy car).
*buttload (plural buttloads)(obsolete, Britain, West Country): A regional English measure of capacity of a heavy cart (a butt), containing 6 seams, or 48 bushels, equivalent to 384 gallons. (SEE - it is a real thing! I am not just being vulgar.)
Services.
Midlife (Crisis) Transitions
Midlife begins around 35 - hey don’t blame the messenger! Many HSPers feel more lost and confused then ever in the middle years. They have spent their lives trying to fit in, people pleasing, striving to do everything perfectly in order to stay safe, loved and valued in society. Rather than feeling proud and happy of what they have accomplished, they feel emotionally exhausted, unhappy, stressed and irritable.
Highly Sensitive Person
I love working with Highly Sensitive People (HSP) who’s unique gifts are needed in the world, but struggle with overwhelm, self doubt and anxiety. You may have felt different for a long time, and maybe equated that different with bad. You doubt your feelings because others think you are over reacting, and it just seems that you can’t handle what others can.
Self Esteem & Soul Work
Soul work is all about empowerment. It’s about deciding to move in a direction that honors what you truly want for yourself, not what your family or society believe is best for you. Our culture has worked hard to have a powerful hold on us and it takes courage to take a look at ourselves and our lives to see if we are leading it, or if others are doing it for us.
