Your Life As A Therapist
By Joan Lavender, Psy. D.
4.25.2016
We live in a deeply competitive world where the fun of competition can easily slip into the paralysis of envy.  And being envied is a frightening experience.  When we lose track of our own grounding, and find ourselves staring at our neighbor's garden rather than tending to our own, we can be in real trouble.  Most folks don't acknowledge envy, not even to themselves.  That is the first step;  notice that the gripping feeling in your gut, behaving in a spiteful way or talking about the envied person behind their back are ...
4.12.2016
We rarely talk about the kind of courage it takes not only to look for psychotherapeutic help but to stay and see it through.  If you have chosen a psychotherapist who works in a Relational orientation you might want to understand how psychological courage fits in.   Here's some background:

All therapists are trained how to have professional relationships with their patients/clients.  This means that they respect the professional boundaries of the therapeutic relationship.  Therapists aim to help their clients ...
4.4.2016
The Challenge of Choosing your Therapist Wisely

This is not an easy topic to write about - for a couple of reasons.  First off, we are searching for someone who presence, skills, life experience and personality are going to make a big difference in our lives.  Yet in today's health and mental health environment, we never know what changes are going to have a huge effect on what we can afford to pay for good (if any!) psychotherapeutic treatment.  And then there are many types of psychotherapists and many levels of t...
8.27.2015
Dear friends and colleagues,

I have just finished reading Presence, A Guide to Transforming your most Challenging Emotions, by Ann Weiser Cornell.  Ann's approach, based on the philosophy, research and psychotherapy of Eugene Gendlin, takes us into the moment by moment world of Experiencing and its extraordinary capacities.  In Presence, she gives us a practical guide for the therapist who uses Experiential Focusing, or for anyone sitting with their immediate experiential process, when you reach a frightening or stuck place. ...
1.1.2015
Dear friends and colleagues,

I want to tell you about an extraordinary book recently published by a colleague in the focusing oriented relational psychotherapy community.  It is called The Poetry of Spirituality as seen through the Eyes of a Psychotherapist.  This book is a true labor of love, making the connection between spirituality and the essence of what goes into a meaningful psychotherapy experience.  What I appreciate especially is how the author and photographer go right to the heart of the issues - awe, faith, love...
1.16.2014

If you are like most people engaged in a psychotherapy process, you may well wonder what is (really) going on inside your therapist's head.  This is natural and even useful, especially if you have the courage to say it!  

You might be interested in reading my piece One Therapist's Travel Log, in which I attempt to share with you, the reader, what occurs to me from moment to moment as I sit with each person. And how my listening process - attuned, temporarily on the blink or passionately heightened, is   ...
12.19.2013


Subject: Fundamentals of Focusing-Oriented Relational Psychotherapy Starts January 7th

Join us for the new Fundamentals of Focusing-Oriented Relational Psychotherapy study program, presented by Lynn Preston and the Experiential Psychotherapy Project faculty (formerly The Focusing Oriented Relational Psychotherapy Program). This training is a unique opportunity for clinicians to be introduced to the powerful integration of focusing and relational psychotherapy.

This cour...
11.6.2013
Mirror, Mirror...A Model’s Life
 
If you are an aspiring model New York City is a wonderful place, filled with opportunities to challenge yourself.  Yet, even in the midst of all this excitement, it is all too easy to feel harried and lonely.  And life in the modeling profession presents special challenges:
 
Looking great when you don’t feel great.
Accepting the abrupt ups and down of the profession.
Competition and comparison.
Balancing work with the rest of your life
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