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APPROACH
Therapy at Black & emphasizes the importance of mindfulness—being in the present moment—as a key tool for self-empowerment. Mindfulness allows us to slow our minds down and observe our thoughts. Unwanted habits arise when we are unaware of the thoughts that lead us to automatically react in ways that are unhelpful to the goals we want to achieve in life. The automatic link between our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors is a major reason why we cannot seem to break patterns and make lasting change. The best way to move forward and to create healing in life is to mindfully consider how stressors from the the past—either the recent past or the distant past—have contributed to the way you see yourself and your world in the present. With this awareness and understanding, suddenly a world of options opens up to you for creating a new reality much different than what you have become accustomed to experiencing. Only then is lasting change possible.
•HOW IT WORKS•
AWARENESS + ACTION =CHANGE
1. TAKE INVENTORY
The process starts with taking inventory. Here we gather background information about your story. Think of this as putting together a brief history of you, that will help to paint a picture of who you are. This will provide a framework for how we move forward in therapy.
2. FIND WHAT'S MISSING
Next, we take a look at the picture of you and discuss what it would look like if your picture were complete. Here is where we identify what you feel is missing from your life and what you would like to see change. We will get specific about the problems you want to work on in therapy, including an understanding of the life factors that seem to be keeping your problems alive.
3. ACCEPTANCE + CHANGE
Then, we get to work on helping you create a life that more closely matches the picture you envisioned. Each session will focus on incorporating a combination of therapy techniques that balance accepting and validating the reality of a given issue you are facing and then moving into how we change it. We cannot change anything without first accepting the reality of what needs to change.
4. BUILD SKILL
In therapy you will learn new skills for creating the changes you want to see in your life. The change does not happen entirely in the therapy room, however. Change only comes from practicing what you learn in session out in the real world. Weekly sessions make it so that you have regular accountability for the changes that you are implementing in your everyday life.
5. PROCESS + ADJUST
Here is where we get to integrate your progress in therapy. Working together, we will assess what has worked well for you, as well as areas where you have had more difficulty with making change. Doing this provides rich information for where we may need to make a shift in our approach in order to set you up for success. This is a self-reflective process that will teach you a lot about yourself.