Existential Therapy

To be human is to endure pain and hardship. I utilize existential therapy to help clients find meaning and value in their lives, despite the challenges and hard times.

I want to help clients find and make meaning and purpose in their lives. I am honest with clients about harsh realities of the human experience in the interest of helping clients come to terms with them and become their most authentic and free selves.

Meaning & purpose in life can help us survive the toughest situations. Unfortunately society often describes it as "finding meaning" so we keep hoping it will happen to us, or we are prescribed a purpose/meaning through religion, family, career, identity, etc. that may no longer be a good fit. Existential therapy helps us recognize that we have the power & responsibility to decide what is meaningful to us, create opportunities to nurture it, & re-evaluate it over the course of our life.

Existential therapy is based on the existentialist belief that humans are free and responsible for their own actions in a world that may lack inherent meaning. This form of therapy focuses on exploring issues related to existence, such as our search meaning, authenticity, freedom and responsibility, isolation, and mortality. Existential therapy can be applied to a wide range of psychological issues, including anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and relationship problems.

Existential therapy is all about looking for meaning, purpose, and exploring identity. Who are we? What are we doing here? What's it all for? If you're asking questions like these, existential therapy is for you.

I help clients find meaning in their life in the face of adversity and uncertainty.

I practice existential therapy by focusing on areas of your life in which you can promote a greater sense of meaning and purpose, interpersonal connection, freedom, and fearlessness. I embrace the discomfort of not knowing the answer to all of life's questions, and strive to help my clients ease their anxiety about the great unknowns. Realizing that life's decisions can not always be put into boxes of "right" or "wrong" helps clients become more confident and assertive about making choices.

Existential Therapy focuses on free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning. This approach often centers on you rather than on the symptom you are experiencing. The approach emphasizes your capacity to make rational choices and to develop to your maximum potential.

We're all going to die. (Yeah, I know). No but like, really. We are. At one point we didn't exist and at some point we will again not exist. In the meantime, what do we do with that? Is it motivating? Paralyzing? Somewhere in the middle? Let's go there. Let's dive in.

Finding meaning, direction, and purpose in life can be some of the greatest sources of anxieties for a person. Existential therapy looks at a person as a whole, in a humanistic context, to look at all the factors affecting a person and how those manifest into anxiety. It centers on deep, introspective discussions to help a person learn how to search for answers to meaning in life, to choose the way they want to live, and help people find connectedness to the world - ultimately reducing anxiety.

I have been interested in the meaning of life since I first read Man's Search For Meaning 30 years ago. As a cancer patient, I have had a lot of time to consider my own purpose, and I think most people at some point (or many points) in their lives have moments where they contemplate what this all means. I love helping my clients explore the existential concerns of death, freedom, isolation, and meaning.

I believe that life's struggles and questions have the power to bring meaning and purpose to our existence. I provide a warm, supportive environment to help individuals explore and understand their experiences, feelings and beliefs. My approach integrates elements of existential, humanistic, and psychodynamic theories to help you understand yourself and your place in the world. Let's work together to empower you in your journey towards personal growth and fulfillment.

An existential approach to therapy emphasizes the importance of the meaning that each person makes in life and that the path that one takes can only be understood in the context of their unique life experience. This means that the questions, "Who am I?" and "What is the meaning of life" is a personal journey that, ultimately, only the individual can discover for themselves.

I work from an Existential-Humanistic lens, meaning that our work together will be phenomenological; I will ask you to be with what is true for you, what you experience, in each present moment. This will be something we practice, and come back to, again and again in our work together.

It is always a good time to work on existential concerns and to prepare for future life stages. Such work softens the present moment and expands the quality of life. I am also a passionate plant person and work with plant and mineral essences in my practice. Further, I am trained as a hypnotherapist and doula and have a clear calling to support people through transitional times in life.

I have a deep appreciation for the place of meaning in human life.

I utilize existential approaches in which focus is put on healthy connection with others, establishing meaning and purpose in life, and coping with anxiety.

When clients first begin therapy, one of the questions that often comes up is what it means to work through emotions or traumas. From the perspective of Existential Therapy, we address the meaning that these experiences hold for you, which comes from our ability to build context foresight around them. If the past still hurts, or if the future holds too many mysteries, it is worth exploring the meaning that we derive from our life's story as a whole.

We all want purpose. We all want meaning. But tackling questions such as "What does it mean to be alive?" or "What provides me meaningful joy?" is a difficult, lifelong venture. I use Existential Therapy to help you look at the choices you make, and calibrate authenticity as the compass bearing for navigating life. By helping you understand the ways you keep and break faith with yourself, you can chart a course for a more expansive, self-determined life.