Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (SIP)
As a therapist, my special expertise is in Spiritually Integrated Psychotherapy (SIP). SIP is a type of therapy that helps you bring more balance, authenticity, and joy into your life by exploring questions of meaning and purpose; it draws on your beliefs and values in the context of your suffering. SIP can be described as a threefold process of looking back, staying present, and moving forward. Like mindfulness-based and other therapies drawn from the world’s spiritual traditions, SIP is not “new.” It has been practiced in some form for centuries by shamans, faith leaders, innovative psychiatrists and psychologists such as Carl Jung, Robert Assagioli, Abraham Maslow and others.
SIP acknowledges the interconnectedness of mind, body, emotions, and spirit. A symptom such as anxiety or depression, for example, can have many contributing factors, such as childhood, a genetic predisposition, or a difficult event, but it is made worse by not truly listening to yourself or living according to your beliefs and values. Using SIP and the threefold process of looking back, staying present, and moving forward, my goal is to help you reduce your suffering and live more fully.
Through SIP and the process of looking back, staying present, and moving forward, my goal is for you to feel better, live more fully, and have an enduring sense that your life is worth living.
Looking Back
By looking back, you better understand how your upbringing contributes to your current suffering. How you were raised, particularly to what degree you were allowed to play, explore, and experience love and affirmation affects how you feel about yourself today. Through examining the joys and sufferings of your past, you have a fuller understanding of why you have come for therapy.
Staying Present
By staying present, you come to better know yourself. You cannot discover who you are and what gives your life meaning without stillness and the ability to go inside. By learning to say present, you also begin to get in touch with the spiritual and creative dimension of your being. There are many practices to stay present: mindfulness, prayer, Tai Chi, yoga, Qigong are only a few. In our work together, I will encourage you to find a practice and to use it regularly to calm and center your mind. This practice also will help you get in touch with your feelings, your beliefs and values.
Moving Forward
By moving forward, you learn what you believe and/or value and ways to live in accordance with those beliefs and values. Together we explore your beliefs about a Higher Power, Life Force, or Big Picture. If you can’t identify any beliefs, we investigate your values (qualities you consider worthwhile – such as family, friendships, work, physical health) or virtues (moral principles you want to live by – such as honesty, courage, generosity). You identify the times and activities when you feel the most connected to your spiritual or authentic self, and work on ways to connect with this self more and more often.
Through SIP and the process of looking back, staying present, and moving forward, my goal is for you to feel better, live more fully, and have an enduring sense that your life is worth living.