our THERAPEUTIC approach
increase authenticity
From a very early age, we are subjected to inescapable pressures and messages from our family, our social spheres, and dominant culture that tell us we’re supposed to be a certain version of ourselves. Our therapy work together will help build a deeper understanding of you in the complex context of your culture, relationships, and other important external factors, to focus on separating out who you think you “should” be from who you actually are. We will collaborate to cultivate authenticity of self, drawing a rich landscape for transformation to occur at a pace that is comfortable for you. We want to help you celebrate and accept yourself for who you truly are and what you stand for.
build connections
Our culture prioritizes individualism and fleeting connections over close relationships, resulting in increased levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. To feel content and be thriving, we need each other and we need intimacy in relationships. An essential support for sustainable, proportional relationships is developing curiosity, empathy, and clear communication of the unmet needs you’ve been carrying and the ones you may not even know yet. We’re here to help you improve your relationships so that you have a stronger sense of community, care, and support. In therapy together, we will help you better clarify what you’re needing from your relationships, cultivate more meaningful connections, build greater awareness of fears and conflicts that tend to get in the way, and support you to start getting more of what you’re wanting!
cultivate a supportive relationship
At Kindman & Co. we practice relational therapy—emphasizing that the core foundation of meaningful therapeutic work is a therapeutic relationship built on warmth, empathy, and trust—where both parties are continually growing and learning from each other. Together we will co-create a supportive and non-judgmental environment that values transparency, vulnerability, and exploration of how we both impact one another. This is not Freud’s therapy! Here, your therapist is not an authoritative “blank slate,” but instead, a whole human being who will walk alongside you on this journey. You will get to know your therapist and what they stand for. We believe that the most powerful way to find healing and bring about change is through lived experience; We’re here to start a therapeutic relationship where you feel seen, heard, understood, and accepted for who YOU are.
increase complexity
embrace embodiment
In American culture we tend to be “cut off” from the shoulders down. We prioritize analyzing, rationalizing, and problem solving—all mental processes—above the valuable information that physical sensations and body memory can offer. Emotions are physical. Working through traumatic experiences particularly, deep healing can be found in intimately knowing and releasing the pain we hold in our bodies. Using embodiment practices in therapy, we investigate your experience as it occurs moment-to-moment by maintaining curiosity around what is happening in both your mind AND body. By becoming more aware of your physical embodiment—where sensations and emotions show up in your body—we can help you begin to liberate painful or stuck energy and feel more in control of big, vulnerable feelings when they inevitably arise.
play!
As humans, we lean on our unconscious nervous system to determine our safety. Since this happens rapidly and automatically, we are frequently on guard for potential threats. This can lead to fearing perceived difference and discomfort with experiences that are new or vulnerable. When we have experienced trauma or harmful relationship dynamics, we tend to view the world in more simplistic, concrete terms (good/bad, black/white, right/wrong, etc.) to help us stay safe. In our current political climate and the divisive state of the world, we can also easily fall into looking at situations through these more concrete terms, which lessens our empathy and compassion for one another. We know that when we can tolerate more grey areas, we build more capacity to confidently navigate our human experience. We want to help you increase your comfort with complexity to support you to hold the both/and of situations, relationships, and your emotional experience, instead of just either/or. Holding more complexity benefits individual and relationship therapy clients alike to increase empathy and curiosity, appreciate difference to increase shared humanity, value vulnerability, deepen intimacy, have a greater sense of wellbeing, and move our society to become more just.
Finally, not all therapy sessions must be intense and serious! There is much to be learned from playful, shared moments. Our therapeutic work will incorporate humor as an entry to building meaningful connection as well as to provide levity and respite from pain and despair. We prioritize holding space for celebrating your joys, highlighting and appreciating your progress and accomplishments, and for valuing the deeply healing qualities of fully-embodied laughter. We firmly believe that humor and play are at the heart of resilience, and we need resilience to survive the twists and turns of being human. Life is not all challenge and suffering, so your therapy shouldn’t be either!
Together we will help you connect to the strengths that you innately possess and build out a more meaningful and enriching life full of nourishing relationships, laughter, and a greater sense of wellbeing.
let's begin.
You are not in this alone. You were never meant to be. Each and every one of us innately possesses strengths to live more enriching, joyful lives; let us help you to (re) connect to your strengths to find well-being.
