Dr. Anahvia Moody

Licensed Psychologist

The direction of therapy is based on my client’s goals. The fundamental aspects of therapy are consistent regardless of what someone’s goals are. For example, you may have a goal of getting more comfortable in crowds so you can attend and enjoy your daughter’s softball games. Or perhaps you’d like to conquer your fear of going to the dentist for treatment so you can be more confident in your smile and appearance. We will work together and use a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy (examine your thoughts and behaviors that may be reinforcing the problem) and exposure therapy (practicing being in situations you tend to avoid) to help you reach your goals. Before therapy can begin, we will solidify at least 1 preliminary goal to get going in the right direction. Goals are highly influenced by our values. What’s important to you? What are you being held back from? Does the life you’re living now feel like the one you want? The answers to those questions will help us uncover your goals and what really matters to you.

Success can be defined in a lot of ways. I often find that clients view success as “the problem is solved”. Unfortunately, many of the issues that lead us to seek therapy aren’t time-limited or even able to be solved. I view my role as guiding my clients to think and behave differently, in ways that are more consistent with their goals. Once you have the tools, the difficult, yet rewarding work continues for you—it’s time to put those tools into practice on your own! For example, if learning healthy boundaries and communication is your goal, gaining to tools to do so doesn’t mean you’ll never have relationship conflicts again. It means that you’ll be better able to recognize and handle them (as long as you use your tools!). Therapy isn’t about feeling better, it’s about getting better at feeling. Our emotions are here to stay—pleasant and unpleasant. When we learn to honor those unpleasant feelings and not let them rule our lives, we do end up feeling better.