Sharing a commitment to a holistic health care philosophy drew me to Heartwood to practice psychotherapy. For 12 years I’ve worked alongside incredible practitioners from a variety of modalities, who offer compassionate, holistic health care services that allow people to explore healing at all levels. I really value health care communities that can integrate all factors that affect health, including lifestyle, body, mind and emotions.

From the vantage point of a holistic approach, recovery from difficult experiences is resilient. With the right support a person’s resources can enable them to be more fully the person they are capable of being. Feeling emotional distress is daunting of course, and the labeling of emotional problems often discourages people – they can think that they have hit a wall.  It may be the thought that “…the depression ( or the anxiety ) will keep me stuck,unmotivated, limited.”  Yet time and again when I’ve witnessed people engaging in therapy, as they listen to their experience, they discover and understand what it’s really about – understand the specific fear or dissatisfaction or loss, and moreover in the process of exploring them, they experience feelings like these changing and resolving themselves. This kind of psychotherapy helps people experience their ability to move forward and their capacity to heal and grow. After trying psychotherapy people often report a change in how they listen to their body and emotions, which helps them open up feelings and energy that they hadn’t been able to feel before. To quote one person:

“Instead of being bothered, when I notice an ‘uncomfortable’ feeling, now I’m curious and pay attention. Then it often becomes clearer what it’s about. I’ve learned to check in with my body and the sensations I’m experiencing, which many times has led me to new information and options when I’m at an impasse within myself.”

Last year, the practitioners at Heartwood revised our center’s name to add ‘Integrative Health and Healing’, to reflect the opportunities for compassionate, comprehensive  health care that we offer. Today, we’re grateful to continue providing a range of optimistic, integrative services, workshops and classes to be able to address the needs of individuals and the community. It’s a great privilege for me as an individual and couples psychotherapist and trainer, to work collaboratively with some of the best colleagues I know.