Asheville, NC
About My Practice
"Less talk, more rock"
Therapy starts as a conversation between you and I. You should feel heard, and maybe even learn something. If it ends there, you may feel better for a while, but you will not experience lasting change. My passion — the whole reason I became a therapist — is to help you find a direct experience: the deeply felt recognition that something inside you has actually changed. Talk therapy, for all its benefits, does not always provide this. The therapy I practice is rooted in new knowledge about the brain, the nervous system, and the power of mindfulness. It's much more about "feeling into" than "talking about."
Embodiment
The human body is the record of our entire history. As Bessel van der Kolk says, "the body keeps the score." The surest way to deepen your experience in therapy is to "bring in the body." (In reality, it was already there, but in my practice, we learn gentle and useful ways of paying attention to it.) By working with the body in the present moment — your posture, movements, and sensations — we learn a tremendous amount that is unavailable to the thinking mind alone. Embodiment makes deeper, and more lasting, personal change possible. Translation: greater sensitivity, deeper joy, genuine openness to others, and true confidence.
Experiments
If I possessed all the answers you needed to heal and change, therapy would be a quick and easy process. The reality, of course, is different. I am a human like you, but I excel at paying close attention, showing compassion, and being curious in ways that are helpful. One of the main ways I do this is by suggesting experiments: simple, experiential exercises that lead you toward the direct experience of healing. In therapy, I do not provide the answers. We find the answers by "playing" — exploring what happens when you make small changes while paying close attention. If you are going to pay someone to help you feel uncomfortable (at least for a moment), why shouldn't it be fun and interesting?
Safety
Therapy is not a "no pain, no gain" experience. We encourage and allow new things to happen, but we don't push. All good therapy is non-violent, and nowhere is this more true than when dealing with trauma. Trauma survivors have hurt enough already, and therapy should never create new wounds. My training as a trauma healer helps me create a very safe container for working through traumatic injuries.
What My Clients Say
When I began my training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (the main approach that I use), I felt a lot of enthusiasm, but wasn't sure how it would actually work. But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. At the end of sessions, I hear my clients say things like:
- "Wow, that was such a relief..."
- "I've been thinking about this for years, but today I feel like something actually happened!"
- "I've been waiting to feel this way for such a long time."
- "I was so nervous when I came in here, but I'm so glad I did."
- "I didn't even know what I would talk about before we sat down...That was so much better than I could have planned!"
There is nothing more rewarding for me than knowing that you have experienced something new, and longed for, as a result of our work together. I try to make way for this in each session.
Contact Me
If this interests you, contact me to learn more about me, my practice, and the possibility of working together. I offer free phone or email consultations to help you decide if you want to meet in-person. Call me at (828) 333-2280 or email me at joe@joew-lpc.com.