A call to heal and grow often comes to us through crisis: health issues, sudden loss, life transitions, struggles in our relationships, anxiety, depression, feeling profoundly isolated…  Therapy can help.

While multi-tasking and being overwhelmed by our schedules, it is easy to feel disconnected from our true feelings, from quality contact with loved ones, from our own bodies and the very ground we walk upon.  With no time to "stop and smell the roses", we become vulnerable to addictions of all kinds. Our demanding lifestyles lead to questions I hear so often like, " What's the point?  What am I doing all this for?"  In other words, how do I regain a life that has meaning and purpose?

About Therapy

Therapy is a way to deepen understanding, cultivate self-acceptance and find our authentic voice.  This leads to healing.

Effective therapy offers a special kind of relationship that provides sanctuary, a safe place to learn how to build trust with another while staying grounded in our own authenticity.  We learn how to create a relational haven where we can dare to be with and resolve scary feelings like unworthiness. When we feel truly supported, we naturally begin to take healthy risks and expand.  It is our nature.  We also gain personal access to an inner kind of peace that is not dependent on outer circumstances.  By growing our awareness, our capacity to trust (ourselves, as well as, another), therapy helps us transform symptoms--be they mental, emotional, or physical-- into valuable messages that move us toward wholeness and self-empowerment.

The Way I Work

I help clients move through stuck patterns, hidden toxic shame (feeling unworthy), power struggles and addictive behaviors that undermine self confidence and leave us feeling empty.  As painful or disruptive as any of the above symptoms may be, they are always born of a need to survive.  When we stop fighting our symptoms,  something else begins to happen.  A different kind of strength emerges. We start to feel safe enough to be honest with ourselves at deeper and deeper levels.  Instead of pushing to force change, we discover that movement organically happens with our full attention.  New choices show up, and we naturally move in directions that are more satisfying and congruent with our nature.

My approach pays special attention to our dialogue, to how we can create a compassionate and safe space in which to explore.  I often incorporate  EMDR, an effective technique which helps the nervous system resolve and integrate past traumas or incomplete experiences that continue to intrude on one's present life.  I empower clients to identify and benefit from their internal signals which often come through body sensations,  dreams, intuition, imagination and creative expression.

I see myself as a guide and guardian while clients come back into balance ---within themselves as well as in their relationships.  I invite clients borrow my trust in the process.  They learn that without being pushed or pulled, shy parts of themselves come forward with their wisdom and find a voice.  Clients discover that with support, exiled needs can be embraced and transformed into empowerment.  Therapy is a special kind of journey that leads to healing and integration, a road that invariably includes letting go and grieving what no longer serves right along with honoring strengths and gifts already possessed.

 I work with families, couples, and adults who want to improve their relationships, feel passion and purpose in their lives, release pain, transform destructive behaviors, and also want to build self trust and experience inner peace.  It's possible!

 Finding a therapist can take some time.  I welcome your call or email so we can talk about how I can help.   If we discover that my services are not a good fit for you, I will gladly do my best to connect you with other resources.

ANNY EASTWOOD, LMFT
aeastwood(at)cox.net
805-637-5522