Throughout my years of experience, I've come to recognize the signs indicating it might be time to prioritize self-care. Life's challenges can take a toll on your personal and professional life, from showing up late to appointments to feeling overwhelmed by the workload.

There’s more than one way to balance our body’s systems.
 
What fascinates me the most is that I can effectively facilitate the body’s healing with as little as five grams of pressure – the weight of a nickel!
 
In my practice, I have found that CST has profound effects on people of all ages. I’ve used this technique on newborns to guide their transition from an intrauterine environment to that of the outside world. I’ve also been honored to be present during patients' transition into their end-of-life journey.
 
Other patients come for help with migraines, post-surgery issues, low back pain, vertigo and dizziness, respiratory issues such as emphysema or COPD, digestive problems, edema, pregnancy difficulties, and other symptoms.
 
Many CranioSacral therapists share my belief that the body seeks homeostasis. It seeks balance at all times, through all its systems, and in any given circumstance. Symptoms are a result of an imbalance. My job as a therapist is to listen and follow the body’s signals, creating an atmosphere for the body to achieve balance in whatever way it chooses.
 
A body’s systems rarely become seriously out of balance due to one event. While an accident, other trauma, or exposure to a bacteria or virus might trigger symptoms, the underlying cause is generally a combination of several issues and events. So it makes perfect sense that more than one form of “balancing” might be what’s needed.
 
I tell my patients that if they don’t notice any difference in their bodies after three treatments with me, we should consider another form of treatment separately or in conjunction with CST. I often recommend to my counseling patients that we consider CST in conjunction with their mental health appointments. Sometimes issues come out during craniosacral therapy that prompt a patient to ask about adding some counseling sessions.

If you’d like to learn more about how combined therapies might help you, please schedule a brief call with me!

I recently received a call from a friend who referred a patient to me for CranioSacral Therapy. The new patient’s spouse came to watch the therapy and called my friend to complain that I looked like I was doing nothing. “Lauri asked a few questions, had him lie down on the table, and then lightly placed her hands along his spine for the hour. I think my husband was sleeping most of the time.”
 
My friend responded, “So, how is his problem now?”
 
“Well,” she said, “we’re going back because the problem is gone, and I want to know exactly what she did!”
 
This unique therapy, which might seem uneventful to an observer, is actually a powerful healing technique. When I teach CST (CranioSacral Therapy), I often demonstrate the techniques with a warning to students that this may seem like watching paint dry or grass grow. But I let them know what I feel under my hands is lots of movement. Often, the patient may only feel a sense of relief or calmness during a session. Afterward, they may report alleviation of symptoms or other changes of some sort.
 
CST is a mode of evaluation and treatment that views the patient as a whole and integrated “system” that has an innate healing ability of its own. By focusing on these internal healing abilities, the body’s “inner wisdom,” the therapist becomes a facilitator in a process directed by the patient’s body.
 
So how does it work?
 
The movement of cerebral spinal fluid creates a core rhythm in the body, which is translated throughout the entire body: the brain, spinal cord, and surrounding regions—the craniosacral system. This whole body rhythm shows the therapist where flow restrictions are due to a lack of motion in a specific area.
 
By tuning into this craniosacral rhythm, the therapeutic facilitator can better evaluate the cause of the problem rather than focusing on symptoms.
 
Dr. John Upledger, a highly regarded authority in the field, says that CST “accesses the total human being’s self-corrective and self-healing process. Further, this therapeutic approach attempts to maximize the patient’s responsibility for their overall well-being.”     
 
What I can tell my patient’s spouse is that I was “doing something” by helping her husband activate his own healing wisdom.  Since she reported his problem is gone, her husband did exactly that!

If you’d like to learn more about how CST might help you, contact me to schedule a brief call.

There is a Japanese artform called Kintsugi in which broken pieces of pottery are put back together with precious metals like gold or silver. This makes the brokenness fully seen, even illuminated and ultimately honored in this new state. Many practice therapy much like a Kintsugi artist. We witness the brokenness with our patients and use the precious tools of therapy and compassion to help heal or illuminate the brokenness and wounds of the patient.
 
But what happens when a therapist feels broken or wounded? In our culture we have become the “experts” in mental health and are expected to be able to “be neutral” to our own inner demons. I have heard more than once in my career and trainings that “good” therapists leave their baggage outside the door of the therapy room.
 
And yet, to be fully present, the therapist’s “baggage” can get triggered. So, who heals the healers? Where do we find the Kintsugi artist who can help put the pieces back together with precious resources?
 
To become a better therapist, one needs to connect to their own feelings, the comfortable AND uncomfortable ones. We need to be able to genuinely and authentically connect and empathize to the patient’s emotions. Doing the work while getting the work can lead a therapist to find balance and wisdom.
 
Compassion fatigue has become a popular phrase among caregivers to let colleagues know they “need a break”. I observed after their “break” a colleague would come back looking refreshed, but within a short period of time I would notice behaviors such as being late for appointments, overreacting to common situations and complaining about sleeping, eating of general health. Helping oneself is seldom a one-shot deal!
 
Gabor Mate stated at a symposium I was attending that there was no such thing as compassion fatigue. No one gets tired of being compassionate, it is a vital part of our nature, and we don’t get tired of being ourselves. We get tired of NOT being ourselves. But to truly be ourselves takes a commitment to our own personal process, our own therapy, so we are able to fill our brokenness with precious illuminating resources including self-compassion.
 
  TO DO THIS WORK, ONE MUST GET THIS WORK FOR THEMSELVES.
 
This is a mantra I use when working with therapists and other caregivers. We ask our patients to engage in self-care through therapy and we need to also heed the call for therapy when we are feeling burned out, stuck, or triggered in our work.
 
And like the broken piece of pottery, our patients will notice the beauty of our repair work without having to know how the damage happened, and they can garner hope for their healing journey.
 
To end, I would like to share this:

“Counseling” and “psychotherapy” are often used interchangeably when talking about options for mental health care. They have many similarities, but there are some important differences. While most therapists may provide both counseling and psychotherapy, it is generally known that providing psychotherapy requires more skill than simple counseling.

Counseling is where two people work together to solve a problem, this often involves advise giving. In the context of mental health, “counseling” is used to denote a relatively brief treatment focusing primarily on behavior. It often targets a particular symptom or problematic situation and offers suggestions or advise for working with it.

Psychotherapy is generally a longer-term treatment focusing on gaining insights into chronic emotional issues or problems. It looks at the thought processes, perhaps influenced by past events that could be causing problems in the present. In other words, psychotherapy addresses the root cause and core issues of current problems potentially bringing about lasting change and where personal growth may occur.

Therapy is a very fluid process in that counseling often includes some psychotherapy and psychotherapy often includes some counseling.

Both counseling and psychotherapy develop a healing, safe, and therapeutic relationship between a therapist and an individual with proven effectiveness for a wide range of people. Both can lead to an understanding of feelings and behaviors and address issues with the goal of improving a person’s mental health.

Choosing a therapist can sometimes come down to personal preferences, access, or insurance coverage. Know this; the level of trust you have in your therapist plays the most important role as to whether the therapy works for you and what you need. Therapy, be that counseling or psychotherapy, is dependent on the therapeutic relationship. It is the relationship between the therapist and the client that creates the environment for mental and emotional healing to happen.

Use your knowledge and intuition when choosing a therapist – and monitor your heart for healing.

Individual Clients
Over my 35+ years in the field, I have been searching for what modality of therapy will best serve those seeking mental health services.
What I have found, and psychotherapeutic research has proved, is the therapist is the key change ingredient in most successful therapy.  Therapy can provide a space where a person is listened, felt and experienced at such a concentrated level of sharing with emphasis on every aspect of communication.

I believe the qualities of an ideal therapist is one who can listen intensely, be nonjudgmental, ego subordinate and unconditionally present.  The therapist demonstrates and models how to struggle against seemingly destructive personality habits and how to live more open and less defensively.

 The therapist presenting as an authentic person that clients can feel comfortable enough with to be open and self-revealing will be key to an optimal therapeutic relationship.
 
                       “Effective therapists do not attempt to fit their clients into a particular theoretical model; instead, they try to learn from
                        them and in effect, gradually develop a uniquely personal psychological theory for each individual.” -Robert Firestone, PhD

In other words, the client is the “expert” concerning their lives.  This expertise may be unconscious.  Through therapy with an open and self-aware therapist, the process becomes a journey of helping the client, within the therapeutic relationship, to be more conscious, therefore empowered to pursue a healthier lifestyle.  This requires a therapist to interact in the relationship not only intellectually, but also intuitively.
This also requires the therapist to be committed to their ongoing mental health introspection known as deep internal work of their own.  To be able to “do the work” the therapist must “get the work”.

New Therapist Supervision & Experienced Therapist Consultation
I am expanding my practice to include supervision services for new therapists and consultations for more experienced therapists.  By exploring our own inner processes, we can be more present to our clients.  My emphasis in this work focuses on aspects of the therapeutic relationship where the therapist may be questioning and reviewing their own self-care commitment.
I use elements of somatoemotional release, psychodynamic and feminist psychotherapies to help inform the work that is done, but primarily the client is the therapy and present moment focus is always in the forefront of the therapeutic process.
 
Work Experiences

• Supervision of LLPC and other counseling therapists
• Private Practice Contractor and Consultant through Professional Psychotherapy Services LLC
• Clinical Director at an Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital
• Intake Coordinator for a hospital based Psychiatric Treatment Unit
• Somatoemotional Release Therapist and Educator

           » Upledger Institute
           » Integrative Intentions
           » Russian Doctor Exchange Program
           » Private Practice

• Psychosocial Evaluation Consultant – Hospital based Substance Abuse Inpatient Unit
• University Counseling Center Therapist – Individual and Group Therapy
• In House Supervisor for Residential Program for Pregnant Teens
• Community Mental Health Services

           » Individual and Group Therapist
           » Inservice Educator

• State Hospital Behavioral Therapist for Chronic Developmentally Disabled Population