FAQs
What is a Nameshape? Why Nameshape?
Nameshape is an experiment in poetics at the crossroads of creativity, community building, and counseling. As a writer, I believe that playing with words and meanings can be incredibly therapeutic. It can also provide insight into how someone relates to the world and the people around them. It is a practice that is rooted in my love of poetry and concepts from some of my favorite works of fiction such as Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Something I often hear from clients is how they have to translate their experience for others, filtering themselves to fit into various cultural contexts and dominant narratives. This can lead them to getting caught up on trying to find the right word or words to describe their experience. In some cases, it can lead to someone giving up on trying to communicate their experience altogether. My response to this is asking clients to let go of translating the language of their experience. Instead, I do my best to put in the effort to learn about their experience in their terms. I want to learn their language.
What is your meaning for this experience or word? If you cannot come up with a word to communicate something, is there a movement or a sound you can use instead? Perhaps a drawing? Rather than reducing whatever is happening into something bite size, easily digested, or commonly understood, I encourage clients to expand and be messy. My role is to reflect what I hear to ensure that I have understood the meaning rather than expecting a client to have their struggles wrapped up and ready to go. This process is something I like to think of as “name shaping.”
Why is holistic care important?
The modern medical model that many organizations are turning to or have been founded on tends to hold a narrow view of healthcare concerns. While this provides some amazing opportunities for highly specialized care in cases of severe or rare disease and illness, it is often not well suited for general health nor mental health. This allopathic approach can miss factors affecting the mind because it ignores the body or may treat something like anxiety using only medication while never addressing the underlying cause to provide a long term solution. In contrast, holistic care aims to view the bigger picture and to provide insight into as many causes and conditions as possible when addressing health and wellness. This might be familiar to some as more of a systems approach.
Some of the things I consider when reviewing clients’ mental health are diet, exercise, interpersonal connections, living situation, income, trauma history, and social locations. This approach can also provide clients insight into where they have the most control in their life to empower them in whatever change or healing they are pursuing. For example, transphobia has major impacts on mental health, but it is not a problem that any one individual can solve on their own. In session, a client and I might discuss where they do have power on an individual level while also brainstorming how they can connect to community that nurtures their brilliance and can work together to keep one another safe and perhaps work towards larger societal change and healing. This can be helpful for validating experiences that are largely outside of our control so we can redirect our energy where it will do the most good.
What do you mean by collaborative care?
While I can provide insight, perspective, and education based on my knowledge of therapeutic skills, the nervous system, and behavior, you are the expert of your life and experience. Collaborative care is rooted in this fact and honors your expertise, strengths, and beliefs. This approach also allows clients to determine how much they want to lean into or stay away from common features of Western mental health counseling such as treatment planning and diagnosis. Promoting client agency in this way also afford us a degree of creativity and play when figuring out what is going on in your experience and how to work with it. It also helps balance the role power present in the counselor-client relationship.
There are several studies available pointing towards the therapeutic alliance–the relationship between the counselor and client–as being one of the most important factors in the success of mental health counseling and psychotherapy. Collaborative care is all about developing a strong, open, and compassionate relationship in the therapeutic space.
What do you mean by creative care?
Creative care means that I do my best to stay adaptive and fluid when working with clients. While certain modalities and interventions such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), motivational interviewing, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and so on can be great fits for specific clients or client concerns, I tend to integrate multiple techniques to adapt to any given situation. Often, as a client processes a trauma or transforms an unwanted behavior, a new concern might arise which may or may not be treated with the same technique or group of techniques. Creative care also considers a client’s worldview and understanding of their mental health. For example, if a client comes to me and frames their depression or anxiety from the perspective of a spiritual belief, I view it as an invitation to get creative with our approach and the avenues we consider for care.
Other ways creativity may show up is by sketching a feeling, imagining an troublesome habit as a being in a chair across from you, writing poetry, or using dance and movement to regulate the nervous system.
What if I cannot afford your services?
I also work with clients through other organizations and may be able to refer you to one of those organizations which offer sliding scale rates and/or accept insurance and Medicaid. While I cannot guarantee that you will work with me when providing this type of referral, there is likely another counselor who will be a good fit. I can also provide referrals to organizations I know of and other counselors that I have worked with. I am hoping to expand my sliding scale options and low-cost services in the future and also plan to start accepting insurance and Medicaid once I am fully licensed.
What if you are not taking new clients?
If you happen to reach out and I am not currently taking new clients, I will do my best to connect you with an organization or individual counselor that may be able to help. In these situations, I may ask for some information regarding why you are seeking counseling and what you are looking for in a counselor. I can also offer to place you on a waitlist whether or not you choose to pursue services through another provider in the meantime.