I am a life coach and personal growth consultant. My master’s degree is in clinical social work, and I have worked in the mental health field for over 40 years.
My theoretical foundation is in the evidenced-based practices of the cognitive/emotional behavioral theories. My approach to personal development combines the theories of Erik Erikson (the eight stages of personality development theory); Abraham Maslow (the hierarchy of needs); Erick Berne (the transactional analysis theory); and Fritz Perls’ Gestalt therapy.
As a counselor, I have determined that most of us have a missing piece. I’ve come to the conclusion that a great many of us are stuck at the love and approval step of Maslow’s hierarchy. Thus, we cannot move beyond Erikson’s negative stages of development. We have Berne’s critical parent in our heads and because it is continually chiding us, we feel negative worth and are filled with a sense of wondering what is wrong with us.
This leads us into distrust: Distrust of ourselves and others (futility), or distrust of ourselves and trust of others (dependency), or trust of ourselves and distrust of others (independency). I believe the optimum stance is to be able to trust ourselves and to trust others. That leads to interdependence. At that point, we have achieved Perl’s theory that the sum of our being is more than the total of our parts.
My focus is to help you gain the ability to trust yourself and trust others.
The achievement of “trust in self” can be defined as “The ability to accept the crap that happens in your life, but to see it as a problem that causes negative emotions and needs to be solved.
I do that by helping you learn to process your feelings in a way that gives you strength and character, not weakness and shame.
In the end, I want you to have love and confidence for and in yourself.
I can help.