Honoring the warrior spirit and strength in all people.
My name is Linda Richards. I've studied and worked in the mental health field since 1989, and have received my bachelor's degree in clinical psychology, and a master's degree in community counseling. During my years in school, I became intrigued with research in trauma and a new, upcoming (and sometimes scorned upon) therapy called EMDR. I took that training as a graduate student in 1999, and I was smitten with the idea that maybe our mental health "problems" are not "problems" at all. Maybe our bodies hold a wisdom and knowledge that we can tap into, to facilitate mental wellness.
Since that time, my clients have taught me so much, and by applying the things I've learned to my own life, I've come to understand, first hand, the power of "I am". Everyone gets stuck in some way. Everyone carries some kind of burden. Everyone has a story to tell, and deserves a compassionate holding space to heal. Everyone has a stuck point. When people come in, one of the most important things I try and relay to people, is it's not what's wrong with you, rather it's what happened to you, and what's RIGHT with you. You're most likely responding exactly as you should, given your life events. You may just not realize that yet.
I use Attachment Theory, Internal Family Systems, Ego State, EMDR, and Somatic Processing in an integrative approach that is gentle, effective and the gold standard of treatment for trauma related disorders. Traumas don't have to be catastrophic events. Most people I see have hundreds or even thousands of small traumas that have shaped the way they think, feel, and act. So generally, these therapeutic approaches are relevant and highly effective in bringing about the result you want!
If you have tried traditional talk therapy, but still feel those issues get triggered, this may be an approach that brings the kind of change you are hoping for. It is all within you! You just need to know how to access your own natural healing process and let your biology work with you!
Since that time, my clients have taught me so much, and by applying the things I've learned to my own life, I've come to understand, first hand, the power of "I am". Everyone gets stuck in some way. Everyone carries some kind of burden. Everyone has a story to tell, and deserves a compassionate holding space to heal. Everyone has a stuck point. When people come in, one of the most important things I try and relay to people, is it's not what's wrong with you, rather it's what happened to you, and what's RIGHT with you. You're most likely responding exactly as you should, given your life events. You may just not realize that yet.
I use Attachment Theory, Internal Family Systems, Ego State, EMDR, and Somatic Processing in an integrative approach that is gentle, effective and the gold standard of treatment for trauma related disorders. Traumas don't have to be catastrophic events. Most people I see have hundreds or even thousands of small traumas that have shaped the way they think, feel, and act. So generally, these therapeutic approaches are relevant and highly effective in bringing about the result you want!
If you have tried traditional talk therapy, but still feel those issues get triggered, this may be an approach that brings the kind of change you are hoping for. It is all within you! You just need to know how to access your own natural healing process and let your biology work with you!
My Approach
With the knowledge we now have about brain development and plasticity, we know you can change your brain but, it takes more than talking. If talking were the cure, we'd all be doing pretty good. We have people to talk to pretty regularly. Additionally, people have been coming to talk therapy for years. Yet what we've learned is when it comes to changing the way you feel about yourself and the world around you, is that talk therapy is only a small piece of the puzzle to healing.
Our brain develops in stages. So whatever happened to you in the first stage of development gets stored in that area of the brain/body, and then the second and third stages accordingly. So if the things that happened in childhood are stored in the first area of the brain, and talking is stored in the second part of the brain with thinking being stored in the third area of the brain, how are we going to target the area of the brain where you're hurting from childhood? Are you starting to see the picture? Just talking about it can stir up all kinds of things that actually do more harm than good. That knowledge completely influences how I approach therapy. Therapy is difficult in that you need to face truths you may not have examined. However, it shouldn't re-traumatize you. More than anything, it should be healing and safe!
So, if you've been therapy before and thought you've covered the things that bother you, but find that you still have the same reactions to old hurts, please know that is a stuck point that needs some fine tuning to change and release that hurt.
I fully believe that true healing involves mind, body, and spirit. When one of those areas are out of balance, you will feel out of balance. Changing that can be accomplished by knowing how to target the areas of the brain and body that are signaling you to change. Yes, you have messages from your body everyday that ask you to connect with it. We've been conditioned to ignore it, push past it, punish it, etc. We have really cultivated a world where intellect is overvalued, and our own innate wisdom is muted. When we start changing those habits, we start to see our biology take over in a beautiful way. We learn to trust ourselves. We learn to know and love ourselves. When we can receive and integrate that knowing into our lives, we are many steps closer to who we are meant to be.
Our brain develops in stages. So whatever happened to you in the first stage of development gets stored in that area of the brain/body, and then the second and third stages accordingly. So if the things that happened in childhood are stored in the first area of the brain, and talking is stored in the second part of the brain with thinking being stored in the third area of the brain, how are we going to target the area of the brain where you're hurting from childhood? Are you starting to see the picture? Just talking about it can stir up all kinds of things that actually do more harm than good. That knowledge completely influences how I approach therapy. Therapy is difficult in that you need to face truths you may not have examined. However, it shouldn't re-traumatize you. More than anything, it should be healing and safe!
So, if you've been therapy before and thought you've covered the things that bother you, but find that you still have the same reactions to old hurts, please know that is a stuck point that needs some fine tuning to change and release that hurt.
I fully believe that true healing involves mind, body, and spirit. When one of those areas are out of balance, you will feel out of balance. Changing that can be accomplished by knowing how to target the areas of the brain and body that are signaling you to change. Yes, you have messages from your body everyday that ask you to connect with it. We've been conditioned to ignore it, push past it, punish it, etc. We have really cultivated a world where intellect is overvalued, and our own innate wisdom is muted. When we start changing those habits, we start to see our biology take over in a beautiful way. We learn to trust ourselves. We learn to know and love ourselves. When we can receive and integrate that knowing into our lives, we are many steps closer to who we are meant to be.