How I Work: What to Expect
What Actually Happens in Counseling?
What Does Counseling Look Like?
Counseling involves weekly individual meetings engaged in focused conversation and psychoeducation. My approach integrates conventional models of psychological counseling principles based on psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, control-mastery and nature-based ecopsychology theoretical orientations.
OK Kelly, what exactly does that mean?
This means we will be talking and learning about a lot of different things about your mind and personality and how they both work. We will go through the basic structure of the mind and personality from the perspective of classical, conventional psychology, beginning with Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung and many others, learning about the Id, Ego and Superego, powerful primary and secondary psychological defensive mechanisms, and how to recognize and alter cognitive distortions, habits of thought and perception, and how to understand your central nervous system and restorative ways to use your body. This means we will be investigating and identifying the nature of your mind, and your invariant organizing principles.
Counseling Indoors / Counseling Outdoors
Combining counseling with nature and movement can help clients feel more open, find new perspectives and understandings, all while connected with the outside world, generating a sense of belonging to something greater. Outdoor counseling falls under the umbrella of ecotherapy, a broad and nebulous term that includes activities as varied as equine therapy and outings like wilderness and adventure therapy. During the pandemic, while many therapists moved online, others held sessions outside, seeking a safer way to meet in person.
We will meet for ‘in-person’ counseling sessions at my comfortable office in Half Moon Bay, and when deemed appropriate, for ‘in-nature’ counseling sessions outdoors near Half Moon Bay, such as Cowell-Purisima Coastal Trail, Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail and Fitzgerald Marine Reserve County Park.
You may have other counseling goals relative to your situation, these are important to me as well. We discuss your goals in our initial phone call and first session and work them into ongoing treatment.
Contact me if you have specific questions as it relates to treatment and what you can expect from the process.
Philosophy of Counseling
As each and every person is individual and unique, my approach as a counselor is conventional, conversational, organic, and eclectic, as opposed to a manual-driven, cookie-cutter recipe approach sometimes found in popular and ‘cutting edge’ approaches to psychotherapy and counseling.
My approach is intended to cultivate a positive therapeutic and realistic collaborative working relationship with you, beginning with the mindset that you already hold the expertise on knowing yourself and understanding what is best for yourself. My role is to enhance your self-knowledge with useful psychological perspectives and interpretations, teach relevant self-care and self-management practices, facilitate positive habit change, and strive to provide you with a sort of psychological education from my knowledge base and professional experience.
Each and every one of us human beings has the life force within, the innate propensity towards wholeness, growth and healing. Counseling can aid these inner forces through better understanding life’s obstacles, and after learning how, choosing which actions you will apply to integrate, pass through or to clear away obstacles from your path.
Getting Started: Next Steps
- Contact Kelly and schedule a free 15-minute phone call to discuss treatment and goals
- Schedule the first session
