When to try a Holistic Counseling Approach

When I started as a Therapist I only used traditional talk therapy. Its foundation is in building a therapeutic relationship, creating a safe space, problem solving techniques and using a cognitive approach. This involves identifying irrational or unhelpful beliefs, challenging and disputing those thoughts or beliefs and creating new more helpful thoughts. This approach to therapy helps many people and is research based. What I did find over the years was that some people would plateau and wouldn’t make anymore progress no matter how often we met. Or others made minimal progress in this type of approach to therapy.

If you are someone who has tried a lot of traditional approaches to therapy but still feel stuck and are not making the progress you most would like, holistic counseling may be the answer. Sometimes traditional therapy approaches are not enough. Holistic counseling can help take you further and can be more of a transformational approach.

Holistic counseling focuses on helping clients heal by assessing and treating the whole person, body, mind and spirit to reduce symptoms and help clients gain overall health and wellness. In the physical realm, holistic therapists focus on eating habits, exercise and sleep. For the psychological realm I work with providing support, building the therapeutic relationship, CBT and to help increase coping skills and self-awareness. In the Spiritual realm, I assess for any religious or spiritual beliefs and integrate the clients beliefs into treatment.

Through breathwork and movement based practices like yoga, I help clients release anxiety or other negative emotions in their body and help them to calm the nervous system. With depressed clients I work on creating energizing practices. Breath is the bridge between the body and the mind. By connecting more with your breath, you can change your energy and emotion. I teach these skills during session and give them as part of therapeutic homework for clients.

To me, holistic counseling is more of a integrated way of being in Counseling and profound changes and shifts are possible. I am passionate about this way of practicing and utilize the skills I teach as part of my daily routine as well. I am a firm believer in teaching only what I am willing to do myself.

Would you like to learn more about Holistic Counseling and how it can help you? I offer a free 20 minute consultation for new clients. You can complete the contact form below or email me at pathtohopec@hushmail.com. I look forward to helping you along your path to wellness.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *