Attachment

There is a theory that all psychologic issues stem from attachment wounds and that everyone one has attachment wounds. Now, I'm not sure if that is really true, but we at least all have a first heartbreak. I have helped with deep attachment issues such as, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, and chronic codependence. Your attachment wounds may not be that severe, but they are may still be negatively affecting your relationships in ways you don't realize.

Attachment is one of those pieces that we can carry for a long time, and struggle to understand. I use EMDR, IFS, and brainspotting to help you lean in and gain an in-depth understanding of yourself so that you can learn how you adapt and function. In this process, you also learn to see yourself as human and love the human that is inside.

As my entry to the field began in research and theory, I enjoy incorporating Attachment Theory into the way I treat relationship issues, emotion regulation, and coping strategies. Maybe you find your mind waiting for the second shoe to drop when things are calm. Maybe conflict makes you shrink up and want to run the other way. Maybe you struggle to engage with the risk inherent to relationship. Attachment-based interventions can help us practice secure attachment behaviors (when it *is* safe).

Healthy Attachment to self, family, community, and the world can all be in need of support and counseling. I am able to support you in your work to build healthy attachment rooted in your unique wholeness

Attachment wounds are at the core of many of our struggles, and this lens comes into all the work I do. I also have specific training in modalities such as EFT, and Attachment Focused EMDR.

When we are born it is imperative that we connect to our caregivers. It is exclusively through this early connection we learn our nascent sense of self and the safety of others. However, these fragile moments are often met with neglect or intrusion, both subtle and overt, that instill predicatble survival strategies that continue into adulthood. Nothing is wrong with you. The question is what happened to you and what interpersonal strategies did you use to survive.

I use a psychodynamic and trauma focused approach grounded in Attachment Theory developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth in 1958. I believe our childhood relationships have a direct impact on adulthood relations. The core of amalgamation in therapy is open curiosity and synergy to cultivate a trust-based relationship. These same values can be translated into having healthy adulthood relationships.

Our most early relationships shape us. How our needs are met, or not, leave an imprint on our sense of self on a deep, non-verbal level. Our attachment styles are formed by 5 years of age, and we develop core survival strategies to get our needs met in relationships, at the expense of oneself. Therapy can help you heal your relationship with yourself, and reimagine how you'd like to be in relationship with those most important to you.

Our attachment styles with original caretakers inform the way we relate to others as adults, including partners, friends, and even coworkers. I help patients untangle their feelings and experiences located in the past from their present relationship patterns, decide what’s still needed and useful, and what they can let go of.

Healthy Attachment to self, family, community, and the world can all be in need of support and counseling. I am able to support you in your work to build healthy attachment rooted in your unique wholeness

This theory focuses on exploring our early childhood attachment style, which has been created throughout our childhood with our caregivers. This attachment style lays a foundation for how we see the world and develop trust and is carried out into our future relationships with partners and close friends. I support clients by guiding them through a better understanding of their attachment style, as well as supporting clients to work through their past to a healthier attachment with others.

Early formative attachment relationships set the stage for relationships going forward. By more thoroughly understanding yourself in relationships, we can begin to find more fulfilling ways of showing up in our relationships.

Attachment can affect our ability to have stable relationships. Identifying patterns and changing behaviors can get us out of failed relationship loops.

As babies, we come into the world quickly forming relationships with our caregivers. Those caregivers can either be a source of safety and connection or a distant or harsh parent. As children dependent on our caregivers we begin to create safety for ourselves in any way we can. As we grow older we carry these ways of survival with us which plays out in our adult relationships. These may manifest in us as codependency, low self-esteem, and people-pleasing.

No matter what type of therapy we are doing, the through line is our own attachment relationship; in the therapeutic relationship, we build safety and trust, understanding your past relationships in new ways and building new experiences in our own relationship, so that you can reshape your current and future relationships outside of therapy into secure, authentic connections.

Attachment is how we as individuals relate to ourselves and how we relate to others. We learn this from a very young age: often the stage is set before we're born, as context and culture informs our family environment which informs how we are born and raised. Attachment as a framework can inform all the other things we deal with on a daily basis, and our clinicians approach issues from this perspective, working to help you elevate how you show up for yourself, and with others.

I could listen to you talk for hours about your relationships with caregivers growing up or your family culture and explore the ways it impacts your current sense of self and relationships to others. I believe strongly that we are shaped neurobiologically to seek connection and belonging and the ways we are responded to as little ones really impact the way we feel about ourselves and how safe we feel in relationships. Lets deepen your self-understanding and get you feeling more secure.

Attachment is a cornerstone competency in understanding how people operate and how to identify what they need from themselves, from others and from life. I primarily use a narrative approach to understanding this part of people's lives as well as sandtray and somatic techniques.

As a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional and Certified Brainspotting practitioner, my knowledge and approach centers attachment issues throughout a person's lifespan.