Dr. Gail West LPC

Clients can expect to start feeling more confident and/or empowered to identify and express certain "truths" about themselves, others and their experiences. Often, these are "truths" that they may have been unable to acknowledge or allow into their consciousness. The sessions will help them feel safe enough and empowered to take those first steps and move forward in their life. Being able to identify and acknowledge the truth (or acceptance), offers relief in and of itself and it increases the internal capacity for other thoughts and plans. They will start to see options (because they're more empowered, confident) that they have previously not been able to see. These steps will help to address anxiety, confusion, depression and other negative mental and emotional feelings.

I primarily use Cognitive Behavior Therapy, but really use various methods depending on the client's characteristics, issues, and history. I gather family of origin history because that has a significant influence on clients' thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Since one of my goals is increasing differentiation of self or helping clients to know who they are, I focus on increasing communications skills, becoming more proficient at identifying feelings, increasing skills in acceptance of realities, and learning to set appropriate boundaries. This leads to clients recognizing their fears and sources of their anxieties, depression or other emotions. Socratic/in-depth questioning and psycho-education methods are often then used to help clients address those issues.

• Georgia, Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC006422