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Individual Psychotherapy

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Psycho-therapy means, quite literally, therapy for the mind.  Sometimes people just call it "therapy" or "talk therapy" or "counseling."  At Hazel House, we offer traditional talk therapy as a foundation for most other services.  However, we don't stop there.  Instead, we accept and honor that there is more than just the mind involved in mental health, and it takes more than just talking to heal deep wounds. 

 

Explore our therapeutic modalities, offered in the context of individual psychotherapy, below.  

EMDR

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing

This technique uses eye movement or other bilateral stimulation to accelerate the brain's natural healing process following a traumatic event.  By holding a memory in the mind while undergoing EMDR, emotional processing can occur, which often results in a new emotional interpretation of the event and a lessoning of physical and/or emotional symptoms.

Brainspotting

This intervention uses a pointer, which the eyes can follow, as the therapist moves it back and forth or up and down.  Certain eye positions, identified by either the therapist or the client, activate relevant parts of the brain, to allow for more direct processing of a trauma or an unpleasant experience, thought, or feeling.  Brainspotting can be very beneficial for changing core beliefs, reducing nervous system activation (fight or flight), and helping clients achieve a sense of peace in their bodies and minds.   Since brainspotting was discovered in 2003, over 13,000 therapists have received training in the technique.

SomEx

Somatic and Experiential Therapy

SomEx is an active process, which combines a variety of somatic and experiential techniques, while also attending to the relationship between therapist and client. Developed by the Experiential Healing Center in Memphis, TN, SomEx allows trauma to be unlocked in the body, emotionally processed, physically discharged, and ultimately healed.  This can be much faster and more effective for some people than trying to heal through talking alone, particularly when the trauma was physical in any way. As the name implies, somatic therapy means paying attention to and intervening directly with the body.  Experiential therapy can refer to any technique that uses action, often including art, music, movement, role play (psychodrama), and/or the use of props to increase access to emotions, core beliefs, and trauma that remains stuck in the body.

Clinical
Hypnotherapy 

Hypnosis involves the use of relaxation, focus, and slower brain wave states to alter a feeling, belief, or behavior. Hypnotherapy involves using hypnosis for a therapeutic purpose, and the goals are varied. Hypnotherapy bypasses the psychological defenses that often keep us stuck, and that tend to be automatic and involuntary, and it can be a very helpful addition to the therapeutic process.  Hypnotherapy bears no resemblance to stage hypnosis, which you may have seen in a comedy show.  Rather, it involves relaxing deeply in a private room, in the context of a trusting relationship, with clearly defined goals and expectations.  As the client, you are in full control, you maintain awareness throughout the process, and you can make choices about what to say or do.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

IFS asserts that multiplicity within the mind (having many parts) is natural and universal. This interactive, client-led, non-pathologizing, and evidence-based approach honors the inherent compassion, curiosity, clarity, creativity, calm, courage, and connectedness within each person. These are the qualities of the core Self, known as the "8 C's," which IFS guides clients toward. Once a connection to the core Self has been established, other parts, which often serve to protect individuals from pain, can be explored. The parts each have their own function, and the client and therapist seek to uncover that function, without judgment, and help the parts adjust their strategies to be more effective and to minimize any ill effects they may have been unintentionally creating. IFS fosters deep mindfulness and somatic awareness while helping clients first access the Self. Then, the focus shifts to helping each part heal its wounds, so the system can function with more peace and harmony (be more Self-led).

Breathwork

Breathwork refers to any use of breath for therapeutic purposes. The techniques vary, from basic deep breathing strategies, meant for relaxing and regulating the nervous system, to holotropic breathwork that offers an altered state of mind, and may be used to access insights otherwise out of reach.

Sand Tray Therapy

Sand Tray Therapy is an experiential modality using a small sand box and figures to represent thoughts, feelings, situations, fantasies, or anything the client wishes to display. Unconscious material often will surface, where it can be interpreted and used to inform therapy.

All of our therapies  
incorporate attention to:​

  • ​Somatics (the body)

  • Attachment styles / wounds

  • Family-of-origin dysfunction (the gift that keeps on giving)

  • Systems (environments, cultures, and contexts) 

  • Diverse identities and the marginalized experience

  • Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors We utilize cognitive and behavioral (CBT) techniques with every client.

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