Individual Therapy

Therapy is a place where you can come to be seen and heard as you are. You deserve to be treated with kindness and compassion for whatever you are going through in life. You are not alone. With the guidance of a caring therapist you can learn to:

• Slow down
• Reflect on what you are experiencing
• Learn how you have created meaning out of your lived experiences
• Recognize your existing coping skills
• Determine if these coping styles are serving you or holding you back
• Develop new coping resources
• Explore what is important to you
• Decide on the kind of person you want to be
• Identify ways you already embody these ideals
• Create goals towards personal growth
• Experiment with new behaviors
• Develop a healthier relationship with yourself and others

Working your way through this process allows you to discover more about your personal identity, experience a different kind of relationship than you may be used to, and build resources to face the multitude of challenges you will encounter in life. Due to the fact that you will be learning to become aware of a lifetime of experiences that have shaped what you believe about yourself and others, therapy does take some time. Sorting through and organizing these memories, emotions, beliefs, thoughts, and values allows you to make more purposeful decisions about how you interact with the world. It also helps you to feel less overwhelmed when you suddenly have to adapt to account for unexpected changes or challenges. With the support of a trusting relationship you can start to become more resilient to stress and feel more empowered to head back out to face your life, whatever it may hold.

Dr. Griffin’s approach to therapy is psychodynamic in nature, with a focus on self-psychology. She believes that events in childhood have a great influence on adult lives, and that when these memories remain unconscious, they are likely to have unintended consequences. These consequences may show up through how you process your emotions, what you believe about your ability to effectively interact with the world, how these thoughts and feelings influence your behavior, and how you engage in relationships with others. As humans are imperfect in nature, you likely have a mixture of constructive and destructive ways of coping with the world. Dr. Griffin engages empathically with you to understand how you came to be the way you are, guide you in a process of development and growth, and gain a resilient sense of self.

Wikipedia definition of psychodynamics: also known as psychodynamic psychology, in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces that underlie human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience.