Therapy Approaches – KKJ Forensic & Psychological Services

What is Somatic Experiencing?

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:27:44 +0000

What is Somatic Experiencing?
A Bottom-Up Approach to Trauma Healing

Somatic Experiencing® (SE TM ) is a body-based form of therapy developed by Dr. Peter Levine, author of Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice. It was developed to help people heal from trauma, shock, and chronic stress. Unlike traditional talk therapy, which usually works from the “top down” by starting with thoughts, SE works “bottom up,” beginning with the body to help restore regulation in the nervous system and support mental health.

Where SE is Practiced
SE is used in many professional settings, including psychotherapy, bodywork, medicine, coaching, and physical therapy. Sessions vary depending on the practitioner’s scope of practice. Some SE work is done through dialogue alone, while others may incorporate touch as part of the process.

Types of Trauma SE Can Address
Somatic Experiencing can be helpful for a wide range of experiences, including:

Shock trauma: car accidents, injuries, falls, natural disasters, assaults
Developmental trauma: early childhood neglect, misattunement, or abuse; trauma occurring in utero or during/after birth
Medical trauma: surgical procedures, difficult births, chronic illness
Intergenerational and cultural trauma: the ongoing impact of oppression, racism, war, or displacement
Chronic stress: living in unpredictable or unsafe environments, even without a single “big” event

How SE works:

Stabilization: In SE, we use specific interventions to support a bottom-up shift toward greater regulation and resilience.
Completing Protective Responses: In SE, the practitioner gently guides the client to track their sensations, which can bring access to implicit memories. The practitioner may guide the client to complete incomplete protective responses (fight/flight/etc.) that arise. Once the body is able to finish what was left incomplete, the nervous system can settle and return to its natural rhythm of regulation.
Pendulation: Pendulation refers to the movement of our attention back and forth between the trauma vortex and the counter vortex, which allows us to build resilience in the system and process trauma in a way that feels manageable, without retraumatization.
Titration: Titration means working with trauma in very small pieces rather than all at once. Instead of diving into the full intensity of a memory or sensation, the practitioner helps the client touch into a small part of it.

At its core, SE is about collaborating with the nervous system’s innate self-regulatory capacity. The central focus of SE is creating the conditions that allow the body to do what it’s naturally designed to do: complete and integrate overwhelming experiences; move through activation, and return to settling.

For many people, SE can help reduce symptoms of PTSD and chronic stress. Even when symptoms remain, it often changes how we relate to them—making symptoms feel less overwhelming and easier to live with. Beyond symptom relief, many notice shifts such as feeling more connected to themselves, to others, to nature, and to their environment. SE can also support the restoration of healthy aggression and healthy boundaries, a greater ability to feel “safe enough” more often, the capacity to experience moments of rest and relaxation, and more resilience in meeting the ups and downs of life.

To learn more about SE, you can read the extended blog post here.

About the Author
Audrey Burke, LMBT NC #22197, SEP, CYT-200

Audrey Burke, owner of Restorative Presence, is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner based in Durham, NC. She specializes in trauma-informed somatic work, including Somatic Experiencing ® and Transforming Touch ® , with a focus on supporting people healing from developmental trauma, shock trauma, and chronic nervous system dysregulation.

Disclaimer: This blog is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical or psychological advice.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) and Trauma

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 19:24:32 +0000

Topics included:

• What Accelerated Resolution Therapy Is
• How ART Supports Trauma Healing
• Who Benefits from ART
• What a Session Looks Like
• How to Begin Therapy at KKJ

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) and Trauma

Trauma looks different for everyone. When I first started my career, I made some mistakes. I was trained to think about trauma in a particular way, i.e. physical and sexual abuse, abject poverty, combat. Our understanding of trauma has expanded over the past 20 years. I now conceptualize trauma differently and recognize that the field’s traditional approach of talk therapy isn’t always for everyone or isn’t enough. Despite having obtained further training in mind-body approaches, I still felt like there must be something else.

Enter Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

In March 2025, I stumbled upon this treatment modality by accident (or was it fate?). A friend of mine, who has practiced Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy for a while, was having a similar experience; treatment was just not helping certain people enough. Her office provided ART training sessions, which I attended with open skepticism. The first day of training was primarily theoretical, and I felt like I was getting some answers to ease my skepticism. The biggest turning point, however, was the first experiential day.

For something like ART, I understand how critical it is to practice it, and experience it, in order to fully understand and support the practice.

Having been in a car accident around the age of five, I have struggled with having my blood drawn almost my entire life. It hasn’t quite reached the level of a phobia, but I’ve always had a very strong anxious physical response when getting my blood drawn. And, while I’ve talked about it, nothing has ever really shifted this for me (though to be fair, I’ve not done exposure therapy prior to this). I am cured….WHAT?! What do I mean by that? Getting my blood drawn is still not fun, but ART has helped me have less intense physical reactions to this procedure (and other medical appointments, too).

ART utilizes eye movements and exposure through visualization to reduce physiological reactivity, which is often very difficult for people to ‘get over.’ It replaces negative images (similar to what people experience as flashbacks and nightmares) with positive images and a new perspective. It really is powerful, and there is a growing body of research that supports the use of ART for a variety of traumatic experiences and phobias, in addition to other concerns. You can learn more about ART here. I’m excited to use this treatment with my current and new clients who have struggled to get past a certain point in their treatment, who don’t really want to talk anymore, or who have strong physiological responses that they just can’t shake.

Interested? Reach out to me at drkatrina@kkjpsych.com.

The Body Remembers: How Trauma Lives in Our Muscles and What We Can Do About It

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Fri, 23 May 2025 20:19:04 +0000

The Body Remembers: How Trauma Lives in Our Muscles and What We Can Do About It

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of how trauma affects the body as well as the mind. We now know that trauma is stored in our somatic memory and is expressed through a biological stress response. Because the body often holds onto traumatic experiences, it displays them through tension, pain, or unexpected emotional responses. This discovery has led to somatic therapies, which focus on the body’s role in healing trauma.

Bessel van der Kolk, MD, has completed research and written a book known to many, The Body Keeps the Score. In it, he discusses how we can self-regulate through body focused interventions such as yoga, mindfulness, and other movement and sensory modalities.

I recently read an article in The Good Trade, written by a yoga teacher, Jamie Kahn, who reflected that students often find themselves unexpectedly crying in poses like pigeon or savasana. These moments of emotional release are evidence of somatic release, a powerful, involuntary process where the body lets go of stored emotional energy. As Kahn notes, these reactions surprise people as they often aren’t consciously thinking about anything upsetting. That’s because our bodies can hold onto trauma even when we think our minds have moved on.

How Trauma Gets Stored in the Body
Trauma usually activates the body’s survival responses: fight, flight, or freeze. Ideally, the body will process and release this energy. However, trauma can be overwhelming and persistent, leading the body to hold onto it in the form of tightening muscles, shortening breath, or tension patterns. When we engage in activities like yoga, the nervous system becomes engaged, and the limbic system releases these unresolved experiences. Somatic releases aren’t always huge or dramatic. Kahn emphasizes that people may experience “smaller” forms of release, like sighing or trembling and extra movements during activities like yoga.

Modalities That Support Somatic Release
To intentionally support this healing, many individuals turn to somatic modalities, therapies that focus on the connection between the mind and body to address mental and emotional well-being.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) – Developed by Laney Rosenzweig, a psychotherapy in which the ART therapist guides the client to replace the negative images that lead to PTSD with positive images of the client’s choosing.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) – Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, a somatic therapy that helps patients safely access and resolve trauma by focusing on bodily sensations and allowing incomplete survival responses to finish.
Trauma and Tension Releasing Exercises (TRE) – Developed by Dr. David Berceli, a somatic therapy that helps releases deep muscle tension and stress by activating the body’s natural tremoring mechanism, a mechanism the body uses to release pent-up stress and energy.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – Developed by Dr. Pat Ogden, a somatic therapy that tracks how our body holds specific habits from our early attachment relationships and past experiences. This therapy aims to heal the impact of attachment trauma and how it is stored in the body.
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) – Developed by Gary Craig, a technique also known as “tapping” and similar to acupressure and acupuncture. EFT consists of tapping specific points on the body while focusing on emotional issues to reduce stress and other negative feelings.

These somatic modalities provide pathways for the body to do what it already knows what to do: restore balance, release stress, and return to a state of peace.

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones is trained in, and a zealous advocate for, ART and EFT. If you are interested in trying something different, feel free to reach out to drkatrina@kkjpsych.com.

Sources
1. https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/what-is-somatic-
release/
2. https://www.verywellhealth.com/somatic-trauma-therapy-5218970
3. https://www.downtownsomatictherapy.com/article/5-kinds-of-somatic-therapies
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9384857/
5. https://acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com/what-is-art/
6. https://www.healthline.com/health/eft-tapping

Treating Trauma

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 04:46:00 +0000

In Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s book, The Body Keeps the Score, his expertise on trauma uncovers the research of different treatment paths. He emphasizes an important first step in recovery: feeling calm and focused. Although the actual trauma cannot be undone, psychologists can begin working on the marks that trauma has left behind.

This blog will cover a few of the prominent trauma treatments as discussed by Dr. van der Kolk in his book.

Yoga
Yoga is a great way to ground people in the present moment. The act of yoga combines breathing exercises, stretching, meditation, and various poses that create a smooth rhythm between tension and relaxation. Yoga teaches individuals to pay attention to which muscles are currently being used and to focus on the safety of their current environment in different, sometimes vulnerable, positions. Research has found that both yoga and meditation increase traumatized women’s brain regions related to self-regulation. If you are interested in learning more about yoga and trauma, try reading Yoga and the Quest for the True Self.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Since the core to recovery is self-awareness, MBSR integrates different mind-body exercises into one 8-week treatment path. It includes yoga, meditation, and working on thought patterns to heal both the body and the mind. Research has shown that MBSR boosts immune response and lowers both blood pressure and cortisol levels. MBSR has also been found to positively affect your brain regions related to emotional regulation, body awareness, and decreased activity of your amygdala and potential triggers.

Social support
Dr. van der Kolk speaks about the single most powerful protector against severe trauma: social support. Much of our brain’s wiring is devoted to human connection. A study done on the children affected by the German bombing during WWII in London found that children who were removed from their parents during the bombing to a safer location suffered worse long-term effects than the children who endured the bombings alongside their parents. We can feel safe when we are assured someone is there to help protect us and get us to safety. Strong social support is a great tool in treating and preventing trauma.

Bodywork/ somatic therapies
Trauma robs us of feeling in control and of feeling safe in our own skin. In order to recover from trauma, it’s important to look into mindful, physical techniques for our bodies. Therapeutic massage is one way to begin bodywork therapy that allows people to discover unknown tensions they’ve been holding in their body. Joining other groups like kick-boxing, self-defense, or Pilates can allow your therapist to begin healing the marks trauma has left behind on your body. Somatic therapies allow patients to feel safe in their skin again by relocating themselves in the present moment.

Medication
It’s important to know that medication cannot cure trauma. Medication aims to decrease the symptoms caused by trauma, but taking medication does not create long lasting change. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can help patients feel calmer and more in control, which can help their willingness and ability to engage in therapy. Other medications used to aid in trauma recovery include drugs that target the autonomic nervous system, like clonidine which decreases reactivity to stress, tranquilizing drugs, anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotic medications. There are some medications that can help reduce nightmares as well.

Writing to yourself, art, music, and dance
Language is essential to healing. Through writing, people can access their inner world of emotions and thoughts they might not yet be ready to talk about. Research has found that patients who wrote about their trauma and their emotions had a drop in doctor visits and improved both their mood and optimism. Writing about personal trauma improves immune function as it helps people to process and recover from stressful events. When it comes to artistic expressions for therapy, less research has been done to understand the logistics of how art, music, or dance aid in trauma recovery. Some research has shown that expressive movement in dealing with trauma gave students better physical health and had an increase in grade point average. These artistic therapies allow people to express the speechlessness of their trauma in a way that is interpretive and meaningful. Writing and artistic expression go hand in hand to help patients deal with traumatic events they have buried deep within themselves.

EMDR
EMDR- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy is based on the finding that psychologist Francine Shapiro had one day: that rapid eye movements relieved her from the distress of painful memories. EMDR allows patients to heal from their trauma without talking about it and allows them to integrate their traumas into a larger context or perspective. Through EMDR treatment, patients allow their trauma to become a story instead of something immediate and anxiety inducing. Research has shown that EMDR increases prefrontal lobe activation. Another 8-month long study showed that 60% of patients reported being completely “cured” after EMDR treatment. EMDR regulates trauma’s intense memories through restoring a sense of agency and ownership of one’s body and mind.

Overall, trauma therapists use techniques that calm their patient, lay their traumatic memories to rest, and reconnect their patient with other important social connections. Trauma does not have to define anyone’s life, and through research like Dr. van der Kolk’s, we can discover how trauma affects the mind and the body and how to best treat each individual case.

If you are interested in learning more about trauma treatment?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center! Email drkatrina@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

How Trauma Affects Our Brains and our Bodies

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Fri, 05 Jul 2024 04:37:00 +0000

Trauma, at its essence, is something intolerable and unbearable. While people can react to traumatic events differently, trauma can create a physical change, rewiring the brain’s alarm systems and increasing the release of stress hormones. In Dr. Bessel van der Kolk’s New York time’s Bestselling book The Body Keeps the Score, he dissects the science behind trauma. Dr. van der Kolk is one of the world’s top experts on trauma, having spent over three decades working with survivors. His work reveals how trauma literally reshapes the brain, the mind, and the body.

Understanding how trauma affects the brain is something many researchers are working to uncover. Previous research studies with Rorschach tests revealed that traumatized people tend to superimpose their trauma on everything. Other research on brain scans showed that when a flashback was triggered for traumatized patients, the area of the brain responsible for speaking (the Broca's area) was inactive. This literally meant there was a physical inability to put their feelings into words.

The amygdala is an important brain structure that is usually affected by trauma. The amygdala is like a smoke alarm; it takes incoming information and identifies its relevance in terms of survival. The amygdala sends an instant message to other structures to orchestrate a whole-body response. The frontal lobe (in charge of decision making) may be able to restore balance by letting you know you are responding to a false alarm. However, people with trauma may lack this ability and misinterpret many things as a direct threat to their survival. When triggered, the amygdala will activate the release of chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline which causes a constant feeling of agitation and arousal. During trauma, when individuals are unable to escape danger, their brain will continue secreting stress chemicals in vain.

Psychologist Stephen Porges introduced the Polyvagal theory. The theory focuses on the body’s vagus nerve and its influence on trauma. The vagus nerve connects the brain with other important organs like the lungs, heart, and stomach. Focusing on this nerve and the body’s regulation of arousal, the Polyvagal theory suggests there are three fundamental states for our bodies.

The first is social engagement which means, when humans are in the face of danger, we will first reach out for help and support. When social engagement does not work, we enter the second state of fight or flight. This state causes a change in our ventral vagal complex (VCC) which is in charge of social engagement and remaining calm. When we are unable to fight or flee, we are left with the third physiological state: freeze/collapse. This third state activates the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) which reaches down into the stomach and kidneys and causes the heart rate and metabolism to drop. The DVC’s activation is the ultimate emergency system as people will disengage, collapse, and freeze in the face of danger and their inability to escape from it.

The way in which we are able to interact with our trauma may change the behaviors we display after the event or influence our reaction to future traumas. If you were able to fight or flee, you might become overall more anxious and on edge. If you were trapped and unable to act during the traumatic event, you may dissociate and shut down to numb yourself and prevent your body from registering any emotional or physical pain.

Trauma breaks down important functions in our brain that change our entire way of living. Brain studies reveal that for some traumatized patients, there is no distinction between the past or the present. Traumatized patients have an inactivation of their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, creating a lost sense of time. Additionally, Dr. van der Kolk began to realize that many of his patients could not physically feel whole areas of their bodies. Trauma created a disconnection between their mind and their body.

Not only were their sensory perceptions altered, but research also shows how trauma affects people’s sense of self and self-awareness. Some patients weren’t able recognize who they were in a mirror. A study focused on the ‘default state network’ (when people actively think of nothing), found that individuals will activate areas of the brain related to the self even in the default state network. However, the same was not true for traumatized patients.

One other study evaluated how brains react to eye contact from another individual. In individuals who did not experience trauma, when making eye contact, they activate their frontal lobe and mirror neurons which allow for rational thinking and understanding others’ intentions. However, in traumatized individuals, they did not have any activation of the frontal lobe and instead had an activation in a region of the brain in charge of self-protective behaviors. Trauma disconnects the brain from activating regions needed for healthy social engagement as well as self-sensing areas.

Trauma is very difficult to understand, however it should be emphasized that having strong social support and true reciprocity in your relationships is a very powerful tool in protecting against stress and trauma. Trauma affects us at our core and leaves a mark on our brains and our bodies. According to Dr. van der Kolk, “for real change to take place, the body needs to learn the danger has passed and to live in the reality of the present.”

Interested in learning more about treatments for trauma?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center! Email drkatrina@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

Importance of a Diagnosis

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Fri, 24 May 2024 09:46:00 +0000

When a client goes to a mental health provider, they may often wonder if they will be diagnosed with a mental health disorder. For some people, a diagnosis can make them feel better because it provides an explanation for their suffering, while others may be concerned about the stigma and impact of a particular diagnosis. It's important to remember that for mental health professionals, a diagnosis is a tool to ensure the next steps for treatment are effective for the client. It is also a way for providers to communicate with one another in the event of the need for a referral or collaboration.

Having a diagnosis can be empowering. Identifying areas for growth, and underlying resilience to support that growth, sets up the path for what comes next. A diagnosis allows mental health providers to accurately refer a patient elsewhere for medication or for more effective treatment. For students, diagnoses offer proper accommodations in classroom settings that will create a better learning environment. Additionally, having a diagnosis can help parents better understand their child’s behaviors instead of assuming their child is just willfully being difficult.

Some people may have negative associations with a mental health disorder diagnosis. For instance, a diagnosis can cause some people to overthink their mental health disorder as a label. Some people may feel anxious at the thought of being diagnosed with something. It’s important to know that you are not your disorder. There might even be a fear of judgment for having a diagnosis. A diagnosis can be overwhelming, but no one should feel ashamed of a mental health diagnosis any more than they would with a medical diagnosis. A diagnosis is simply a constellation of symptoms that explain what is happening with someone, just like symptoms explain a stomach ulcer. Yes, there may be behavioral changes that contribute to some symptoms getting better or worse, but there are also biological and situational factors that contribute to a mental health diagnosis.

People are not their mental health disorders any more than they are their medical conditions. The most important thing in your mental health journey is getting the proper treatment to lead a happy and functional life. Diagnoses help mental health professionals ensure they understand what is happening to develop an appropriate treatment plan.

Watch Dr. Katrina and Dr. Samantha discuss the importance of a diagnosis in the field of mental health!

Are you ready to take your first step into therapy?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center! Email kaytie@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

Couples Counseling and Family Counseling

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Tue, 14 May 2024 22:53:42 +0000

There are different reasons why couples and families will seek out counseling. Here are a few of the reasons people often find themselves in couples or in family therapy.

Couples Counseling:
A prominent reason that couples will go to therapy is to work on and improve their communication skills. Communication is the foundation of all relationships so when a couple is struggling to effectively communicate, it is beneficial to get professional help.

Similarly, couples may seek counseling to navigate new life problems. Life doesn’t always go as planned, and when stressors are added into a couple’s life, it may be difficult to manage. In therapy, couples learn ways to adapt to new changes and how to build skills to handle road bumps.

Another important, although uncomfortable, reason couples may find themselves in counseling is to deal with infidelity. If a couple is willing and able to have this difficult conversation, it’s possible to move forward and process what has happened together.

Lastly, some couples will find themselves in counseling in order to discuss what their relationship will look like moving forward. Maybe they have already decided to split ways but seek counseling to learn how to do so in a respectful way that honors both of them.

Family Counseling:
There are different reasons why families will seek out counseling. Some reasons include to improve communication skills, process traumatic events and life adjustments, as well as for court related reasons or divorce.

The most important things that are worked on in family therapy are the relationships among the members within the family. When things change in life, it can alter the way family members view and engage with each other. Counseling is all about establishing a “new and healthy normal” within a family. In family therapy, family members are given the space to process what has happened to them with a mediator.

Through family counseling, members are given skills and tools to better their relationship outside of therapy. Family counseling allows everyone’s perspective to be heard and expressed. People go to family counseling for various reasons, all of which are valid. It's important to remember that you are not alone when struggling within your family and that there are professionals trained to help you through these difficult moments.

Are you ready to take your first step into therapy?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center!
Email kaytie@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

Watch Dr. Samantha and Mackenzie Howard talk about the different reasons people go to couples and family therapy!

Family:
You can also view on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Couples:
You can also view on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Are you ready to take your first step into therapy?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center!
Email kaytie@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

How do people know they need to go to therapy?

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 15:29:05 +0000

There are a lot of reasons people decide to go to therapy. Everyone’s life path is unique, and therapy is a great way to get professional help through life’s difficult moments.

Here are a few reasons people seek out therapy:

During Crisis
People often seek counseling for a prominent problem like an eating disorder, significant depression or anxiety, or an addiction. Your crisis could also be related to your work or your home life. It's important to know that many people find themselves in crises and that you are not alone. It is never too late to get professional help when you are in the midst of a crisis. Therapy can help you identify goals to get you through your crisis.

Find Support
Life can be stressful and overwhelming. If you are struggling with negative self-talk or feel a lack of support in your daily life, going to therapy could bring the support you need to feel stable again in life. At The Purpose Center, we focus on bringing purpose back into your life by treating you as a whole person- mind, body, and spirit. We bring you the support necessary to decrease stress, enhance relationships, and help you find greater health and well-being.

Transition Point
Your life can change in so many ways during your lifetime. Transition points challenge your normal routines and ingrained habits. They can be especially difficult if they were not planned or if you are handling your transitions alone. Going to therapy allows a professional to help you identify goals to get you through your transition, and to develop and utilize coping skills when making and dealing with hard decisions or establishing a new routine.

Feel Empowered
Therapy can be an empowering experience. In therapy, you’re able to work on boundary setting, assertiveness, and communication. These skills allow people to feel more in control and happier overall in their life and in their own bodies. Therapy is all about helping you reach the next, better stage of your life. At The Purpose Center, we help people realize their full potential and feel proud of their accomplishments in life no matter how big or how small.

Feeling Confused
Maybe life has felt “off” and you’re not sure what to do. Maybe you’re not sure if you want to stay in your relationship or if you want to stay at your job. Therapy allows you to work through these confusing life moments without fear of judgment. Maybe you recognize patterns that you want to change in your life, but you can’t figure out how to put the change into action. Therapists are here to work alongside you as you work through difficult decisions.

Therapy is a great way to gain control over your life and take the steps necessary to make healthy, positive, long-lasting changes.

Watch Dr. Katrina and Mackenzie Howard talk about the different reasons people go to therapy!

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You can also view on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Are you ready to take your first step into therapy?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center!
Email kaytie@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

How To Prepare For Your First Session

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 20:47:59 +0000

In need of some quick tips on how to prepare for your first session?
We got you!

Firstly, remember to be OPEN! Try to remove any expectations you might have about therapy. You don't have to come in with an agenda or a plan. You’re more than welcome to come with an agenda but the therapist is there to find a path with you and explore your mental health. The therapist is there to guide and navigate your life path and create a professional plan to aid in your health.

Be honest! Therapy is the best place to let your hair down and share your truth. Honesty is so important in therapy to ensure your provider best understands you and can give you the best treatment. It’s important to remember that there is never any judgment in therapy. Therapy can only work when you are being honest and open about your life and your behaviors.

Think about the preferences you have for your provider! Therapy works best when you have good rapport with your therapist. Your relationship with your therapist is crucial for therapy to be effective. Take time looking into your preferences and who you want to build a therapeutic relationship with. With delicate issues at stake, therapy must be a good fit between therapist and client.

When it comes to therapy, try scheduling a good time within your busy calendar. Don’t try to push therapy into a busy day when you're rushing to and from therapy. Rushing can make therapy feel like a chore and you won’t be able to decompress and focus during your session. Telehealth can make this easier, in that you don’t have to take time out of your day to drive to and from, but if you’re cramming therapy in between meetings, or are distracted by your email popping up on your computer, consider setting aside the time to come in person like you would with any doctor’s appointment.

Remember, your provider is there to guide you! It’s their job to navigate your session and find the best course of action for your mental wellbeing. Don’t feel overwhelmed when walking into your first session. Remember to breathe, be honest and open, and if your provider doesn’t feel like the “right fit”, keep looking or ask for a referral to another provider!

Watch Dr. Katrina and Mackenzie Howard talk about how to prepare for your first session on our social media!

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You can also view on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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Are you ready to take your first step into therapy?
Schedule an appointment today with The Purpose Center!
Email kaytie@kkjpsych.com or call 919-493-1975.

Valued Living

Dr. Katrina Kuzyszyn-Jones — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:56:50 +0000

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT for short, was developed in the 1980’s and focuses on accepting what is out of a person’s control and committing to an action that improves or enriches their life. The theory behind ACT focuses on accepting and experiencing painful emotions or psychological experiences because suppression of these feelings ultimately leads to more distress. The aim of ACT is to maximize a person’s potential for a meaningful and full life. ACT teaches psychological skills to cope with painful thoughts and feelings effectively- in such a way that they have much less influence and impact. ACT can also help you clarify what is important and meaningful to you. By taking steps to change our behavior, while at the same time, learning to accept our psychological experience, we can eventually change our attitudes and emotional state. ACT has been used effectively to help treat workplace stress, test anxiety, social anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even psychosis. It has also been used to treat medical conditions such as chronic pain, substance use, and diabetes.

There are six core processes in ACT:

Be psychologically present (focusing on the here and now)
Diffusion - Stepping back/detaching from unhelpful thoughts, worries, memories, allow them to come and go (as opposed to struggling or avoiding them).
Acceptance - Allow these thoughts/ feelings to come and go without draining you (be willing to experience difficult thoughts).
The observing self - Self as context. See yourself as unchanged by time and experiences.
Values clarification - Discover what is truly important to you.
Commitment - Take action to pursue the important things in your life.

Goals of ACT:

Develop psychological flexibility - The ability to embrace one’s thoughts and feelings as they are and shift attention towards chosen values and actions linked toward those values.
Reduce psychological symptoms
Increase work performance
Increase physical health
Increase Quality of Life!

One core process of ACT is value clarification. While some people find it simple to identify their values, many of us struggle to find purpose in our lives. One way to identify our values is to collect information using The Valued-Living Questionnaire. This brief questionnaire taps into 10 domains of life. You can rate the importance of the 10 domains in your life on a scale of 1-10.

The 10 domains are:

Family (other than parenting and intimate relationships)
Marriage/Couples/Intimate relations
Parenting
Friendship
Work
Education
Recreation
Spirituality
Citizenship
Physical Self-Care

You then use this rating scale to estimate how consistently you have lived in accord with those values over the past week (using the same 1-10 rating scale). This allows you to reflect on your values and provides a starting point for action. Overall, this tool can be a simple way to identify your values and be a driving force for setting a course to increase adherence to living by your values. This measure is brief, and research supports its strong reliability. The measure can be found online and is a free resource that can be used by anyone.

Please see below the link to find the Valid Living Questionnaire that you can use!

VALID LIVING QUESTIONNAIRE

Want to talk about your results?
Contact drkatrina@kkjpsych.com.