My Approach to Therapy I created Intuitively Informed Integrative Play Therapy* and Psychotherapy, which is the approach I teach to other mental health professionals. This approach is described in more detail below. My Approach with Adults in Therapy Many times adult clients choose to work verbally. At other times, they might feel the need to use another form of therapy to free them from blockages in their progress. At such times, I might suggest a form of creative arts therapy or invite a client to create a sand tray using the miniatures on the shelves in my office to reflect how they see the world or some aspect of it, letting the client’s unconscious direct their choices. In this way, deeper aspects of the self are able to come forward to be discussed and developed. (For more information about sand tray therapies, click here or here. For more information about creative arts therapies, click here). Some clients find they experience symptoms in their bodies that parallel the emotional and mental difficulties they experience. To give the most lasting relief under these circumstances, I also offer alternative approaches, which I have found very helpful in my own journey as well as with the clients with whom I work, some of which include therapeutic forms of touch. These techniques are fully explained in person and are also explained on the website, with links to more information. Each client is encouraged to make an informed choice about what approaches they feel are best for them once the options have been discussed. Therapeutic Metaphors I work a great deal with all my clients using therapeutic metaphors, such as those suggested by the pictures and phrases in the slide show about why people come to therapy and how they benefit from it. This is a good example of how metaphor can be used to communicate. It allows for clear communication with a little wit mixed with wisdom in a way that allows us to remember the messages much longer. Metaphor is a powerful tool that accesses a person’s interests and knowledge in one area and applies it to an area in which more growth is needed. For example, a woman who is an excellent gardener, but who has not been listening to or attending to her own needs in the midst of taking care of the needs of her family might learn in therapy how to apply what she knows about cultivating a healthy garden to begin taking better care of herself. Lessons learned in this way are remembered longer and the work is more interesting and fun for clients of all ages. Therapy with Children and Adolescents Children and adolescents generally use a combination of talk therapy and play therapy, including sand tray work. Children typically work best in various forms of play therapies as they are less sophisticated than adults in terms of being able to express their difficulties verbally in order to resolve them. Play therapy is also less threatening, more fun and more motivating as well as being perceived as more relevant to young people than talk therapy. Thus, in play therapy, the work can be done with less defensiveness and with less time needed for building rapport. (For more information about Play Therapy, click here. Play therapy is much more than merely playing with children. In play therapy, a child shows the therapist what the world looks like to him/her and the child incorporates representations of his or her past and present relationships into the play. In the free play, a qualified therapist can observe the nature of the child’s life experiences and relationships, their current strengths and coping techniques, the language (play materials) the child prefers, the problem as the child sees it, and what the child is asking for from the therapist. The play therapist responds by describing the world as it is laid out by the child and observing and noting the coping techniques, validating those that are effective and offering or modeling alternatives to those that are less adaptive. A play therapist also helps a child understand the nature of those relationships and empowers him/her to make healthy choices and responses to the people included in the play, once they have had adequate time to release the pain associated with any such experiences. A child also benefits from therapeutic play as a therapist identifies and names feelings associated with the situations played out, giving the child both validation and a means for verbalizing complex inner experiences in the future, often reducing the need to then act out the feelings. Some of the children and adolescents and adults with whom I am working are also benefiting from Integrated Energy Therapy and/or One-Brain to release painful emotions and the learning and relational blockages associated with them. Work with Families Families of children in therapy are included in both play and verbal sessions. I use Play therapy to get samples of how a family operates, including its strengths and areas of need. Parents are also initially involved in providing history and strengths and setting goals. I also offer parents opportunities for learning new ways to handle challenges at home, while they are continually providing me with their wisdom about their child, including ongoing feedback on growth and areas of need, and ensuring "homework" from the sessions, when given, is completed by the child and/or family. I share with parents information about what happens in therapy sessions with children and adolescents within the legal limits of confidentiality, as discussed at an early appointment. Sometimes ongoing family work is necessary to help the entire family learn more effective and fulfilling ways to interact with one another. We often use therapeutic play and/or filial therapy to accomplish this. Development of My Approach to Therapy I was trained to use non-directive talk and play therapy in what is referred to as a Person-Centered framework, as developed by Carl Rogers. My early training was also informed by classical and modern Psychodynamic theories Psychodynamic theories were originated by Sigmund Freud and modernized and updated by several people such as Heinz Kohut, Anna Freud, Margaret Mahler, and Donald Winnicott. Modern psychodynamic theories are now widely accepted and more compatible with our modern culture and beliefs. Over time, due to my own experiences, education, as well as constraints from managed care insurance, I became more directive in my work. In addition, through the process of recovering from a traumatic car accident that involved multiple serious injuries to my body, as well as to my brain, after which I also became suddenly anxious and depressed, I also became more open to alternative healing approaches, which helped me to recover in ways more traditional approaches had failed. I have learned some of these alternative healing techniques and I am in the process of learning others that I plan to integrate into my practice when I master them. How I Combined the Approaches I Learned I believe that people, given a choice, would like to heal in the most time-efficient and yet compassionate and comfortable way possible. As a result, I have maintained the Person-Centered practices of using empathic reflection, clarification, and trusting a person’s innate desire and ability to heal. I maintain the therapeutic alliance through the Person-Centered approaches to the relationship of mutual respect, unconditional positive regard, empathy, genuineness and client responsibility for directing the healing. I also continue to use the conceptualizations of modern Psychodynamic theorists when they fit what I observe. This is what I consider to be the frame or container within which I work. The work can be talk therapy and/or play therapy with children, adolescents and adults or even the Mind-Body-Spirit or alternative healing approaches that I have learned more recently. Within that safe, respectful container, I then smoothly integrate interventions from more directive approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Adlerian Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Reality Therapy and/or the Mind-Body-Spirit techniques of Integrated Energy Therapy and/or One-Brain, depending on what the client’s needs, style and preferences indicate. This is the "Integrative" aspect of my approach in which I integrate those forms of therapy that would most likely be beneficial to the client, also integrating non-traditional healing with traditional psychotherapy. Choices of which approach(es) to use are based on my clients’ preferences and their Intuition about what will help them and my clinical training and experience, which is influenced and informed by my Intuition and Spiritual Guidance. This represents the "Intuitively-Informed" aspect of my work. I find this to be a very powerful way to work as my work is no longer limited by my own knowledge and experience. It is supplemented by the Wisdom of the Collective Unconscious (a term used by the famous psychologist Carl Jung), spiritual guidance and the Intuition or Other Knowing of my clients and consultees. Work that has benefited from these Sources has been reported by my clients as being much more meaningful and lasting. Clients and their families are engaged in this choice of approach on an ongoing basis. Their verbal and non-verbal feedback, progress toward goals and spoken and played metaphors are guides for helping us make future choices together about the next steps in their healing process. 'Integrative' means... Intuitively Informed Integrative Play Therapy and Psychotherapy* "Integrative" means I use a variety of therapeutic approaches, selecting the particular approach for a given person based on the needs, strengths and preferences of the client with whom I am working. "Intuitive" refers to trusting my Intuition and that of my clients, in addition to clinically informed judgment, to ascertain important information about the problem, the solution and how to promote healing. Psychotherapy is generally talk therapy, but may also include alternative healing methods and/or energy work, if a client wishes. Play Therapy is a form of therapy that is most often used with children and adolescents, but which I also use with adults. More specific information about Play Therapy can be found on the website for the Association for Play Therapy, the American national play therapy association that offers credentials in play therapy and the international Play Therapy Association, PTI, which offers international credentials in play therapy. In my approach to therapy, after an extensive history-taking, the client takes the lead in determining the nature and speed of the exploration and the direction of the work. I act as a guide and resource to help the client access and trust his or her own inner guide to find insights and answers, sharing intuitively-informed wisdom and guidance as requested. I also structure some of the therapy to help clients develop life skills and personal strengths and I provide guidance on resources to achieve the desired goals. Sometimes the work is traditional talk therapy. Other times, it takes the form of sand tray work, play therapy, and/or Mind-Body-Spirit techniques, which help access the deeper aspects of the pain and problems and remove blocks to sustaining progress. The alternative approaches often reveal more inner resources and speed the healing by bypassing defenses and releasing stuck emotions and correcting damage from previous life traumas with less pain in the present time. *Intuitively Informed Integrative Play Therapy is a copy-righted phrase coined by Dr. Glatthorn to describe her personal approach to Play Therapy and Psychotherapy. For more information about her trainings, supervision and publications, please browse this website. Top of Page | Site Map