Happy New Year from Good Earth Counseling
Happy New Year!
Over the past year, clients I’ve worked with have struggled and faced serious challenges with resilience and grit, and I’ve learned a lot from each couple and individual. I’m inspired by all of you and grateful for the opportunity to work with you.
What I’ve learned from my clients this year:
- Difficult times won’t stop you from learning about yourself and improving your relationships if that’s what you want.
- You can live a meaningful and fulfilling life even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic.
- You can build relationships over zoom that are incredibly meaningful even without meeting in person.
- But meeting in person is really, really nice and we all miss it.
- Self-care has to continue even during hard times. You gotta keep eating right, taking walks, calling your friends and doing what brings you joy on a daily basis.
Stuff I’m excited about in the coming year:
- Learning more about psychedelic assisted therapy. I’m taking a Psychedelic: Premise and Promise with Fluence in January. I’m excited to learn more about psychedelic integration and how to help clients make the most of psychedelic experiences. There’s tons of research coming out on this topic that indicates psychedelic assisted therapy could help with problems as diverse as PTSD to death anxiety at the end of life to cigarette addiction.
- Starting another online interpersonal therapy group. Interpersonal process groups give people a chance to support each other but also learn more about themselves and others through the experience of putting their thoughts and feelings into words in the moment and exploring the dynamics that occur in the group. The goal is to come to a deeper understanding and acceptance of self and other. Time and date of the group are still being decided, but I will keep you posted. If you’re interested in group therapy, contact me.
- Working with Couples Therapy, Inc. to offer intensive weekend retreats to couples here in Rochester, NY and online. In one long weekend, we do six months of therapy. This is an evidence-based treatment model created by the Gottmans. We meet Friday evening 6-8, and 9:30-4:30 Saturday and Sunday. It’s intense, but can have a huge impact on a struggling relationship. If this interests you, check out Couples Therapy, Inc.
- Continuing Gottman training for couples therapy, and work towards Gottman certification. I have learned so much from this process, and continue to learn by working with my Gottman trainer, Stacy Hubbard, LMFT.
- Diving into books about relationships and healthy communication. The first on the list is After the Fight: Using your Disagreements to Build a Stronger Relationship, by Dan Wile, a well-known couples therapist who inspired some of the Gottmans’ research.
- Learning more about religious and spiritual trauma, and cults. I just read Cultish, by Amanda Montell, a linguist who has studied the language cults use to get into the minds of their followers and influence them over time. I’m hoping to do some work with the Reclamation Collective, an organization started by two therapists who are passionate about helping clients healing from spiritual abuse. If you’re interested in learning more about cults, you could also check out therapist Rachel Bernstein’s podcast Indoctrination.
If you want to work together in the new year, whether you’re a couple dealing with big fights or an individual wanting to heal from spiritual abuse, I’d love to learn more about you. You can book a free consult using this link.
Warmly,
Susanna