“Love and death are the great gifts that are given to us; mostly,
they are passed on unopened.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke
Jackie’s Approach
1
Person Centered
Person-centered therapy focuses on creating a safe, nonjudgmental space where the therapist offers empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness to help the person explore their feelings and move toward self-directed growth.
Person-centered approach benefits
Respects individual autonomy
Empowers people to make their own choices and set their own goals.
Promotes dignity by recognizing each person’s values, preferences, and life story.
Builds stronger therapeutic relationships
Fosters trust and rapport through authentic, empathetic listening.
Encourages collaboration and shared decision-making between practitioner and person.
Improves engagement and motivation
When people feel heard and understood, they are more likely to participate actively in their care or growth.
Intrinsic motivation increases because goals are personally meaningful.
Enhances well-being and satisfaction
Supports emotional safety and reduces feelings of shame or judgment.
Leads to higher satisfaction with services, treatment, or support because interventions align with personal needs.
Promotes holistic care
Considers emotional, social, cultural, physical, and environmental factors, not just symptoms or problems.
Encourages tailored interventions that address the whole person rather than only a diagnosis.
Encourages strengths-based practice
Focuses on abilities, resources, and resilience rather than deficits.
Builds confidence by recognizing and amplifying existing strengths.
Facilitates better outcomes and long-term change
Personalized plans are more sustainable because they match the person’s values and circumstances.
Collaborative goal-setting improves adherence and follow-through.
Supports diversity and inclusion
Adapts to different cultural backgrounds, identities, and communication styles.
Reduces bias by centering the person’s own perspective and experience.
Enhances professional satisfaction and ethical practice
Practitioners report greater fulfillment when working in partnership rather than directive roles.
Aligns with ethical principles of respect, autonomy, and beneficence.
Flexible across settings
Effective in mental health, social services, education, healthcare, coaching, and organizational leadership.
Scales from brief interactions to long-term therapeutic relationships.
A person-centered approach prioritizes the individual’s voice, choice, and whole-life context, producing better engagement, satisfaction, and outcomes while promoting respect, inclusion, and sustainable change.
2
The Body Holds the Wisdom
Somatic therapy focuses on the connection between body and mind, using bodily awareness and movement to process stress, trauma, and emotions. Somatic therapy offers several benefits by integrating the mind and body in healing. Key advantages include:
Reduced physical tension and chronic pain: Somatic techniques help release muscle tightness and bodily holding patterns that often accompany stress and trauma, which can lessen chronic pain and improve comfort.
Improved stress regulation: Practices such as breathwork, grounding, and body awareness help calm the nervous system, reducing symptoms of anxiety, hyperarousal, and panic.
Enhanced emotional awareness and processing: Focusing on bodily sensations makes it easier to notice, name, and work through emotions that may be difficult to access through talk therapy alone.
Better trauma resolution: Somatic therapy addresses how trauma is stored in the body, helping to discharge trapped physiological responses and reduce re-experiencing, flashbacks, and somatic reminders.
Increased resilience and self-regulation: Clients often gain tools to manage physiological responses to triggers, leading to greater emotional stability and coping capacity during stressful situations.
Greater embodiment and presence: Developing a felt sense of the body can increase mindfulness, groundedness, and connection to the present moment.
Improved interpersonal functioning: As clients become more attuned to their bodily cues and emotional states, they often communicate needs more clearly and establish healthier boundaries.
Complement to other therapies: Somatic work can enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapies and medical treatments by addressing physical aspects of psychological distress.
Enhanced sleep and energy regulation: By reducing hyperarousal and improving relaxation responses, somatic interventions can lead to better sleep quality and more balanced energy levels.
Nonverbal access to healing: For people who find verbal expression difficult, somatic approaches provide alternative pathways to process experiences and foster change.
These benefits may vary by individual and depend on factors such as therapist training, treatment length, and the client’s readiness to engage in body-focused work.
4
Differentiation is Key to Intimacy
Differentiation is the ability to maintain a clear sense of self while being emotionally connected to another.
In relationships, higher differentiation allows honest expression of needs and boundaries without withdrawing or enmeshing, which deepens true intimacy. Somatic therapy supports differentiation by increasing bodily awareness of one’s impulses, emotions, and limits—helping people notice when they’re reactive, regulate arousal, and choose responses that preserve both autonomy and closeness. Benefits include clearer communication, healthier boundaries, greater emotional resilience, and more authentic, lasting connection.
3
Space for the Unknown
There’s a kind of quiet power in the unknown when it comes to healing. Holding space for uncertainty lets you breathe, reflect, and explore possibilities without pressure or expectations. It opens the door to new approaches, questions, and connections that might otherwise be missed.
Existential therapy focuses on helping individuals find meaning, freedom, and authenticity in life by addressing fundamental human concerns such as mortality, choice, isolation, and responsibility. Key benefits include:
Increased self-awareness
Existential therapy encourages deep exploration of personal values, beliefs, and life priorities. Clients often gain clearer understanding of who they are, what matters to them, and how their choices shape their experience.Greater sense of meaning and purpose
By confronting questions about meaning, clients can identify or create purpose in their lives rather than relying on external validation or prescribed roles. This can reduce feelings of emptiness and directionlessness.Improved decision-making and responsibility
The approach emphasizes personal freedom and responsibility. Clients learn to acknowledge their capacity to choose and take ownership of those choices, which can lead to more deliberate and empowered action.Reduced anxiety about uncertainty and mortality
Rather than eliminating existential anxiety, therapy helps clients relate to it differently—seeing anxiety as a signal that prompts authentic living. This reframing can reduce paralyzing fear and increase constructive engagement with life.Enhanced authenticity and congruence
Working through conflicts between inner values and external expectations supports more authentic living. Clients often feel more aligned between their actions and their true selves.Better coping with life transitions and loss
Existential therapy provides tools for facing major life changes—bereavement, career changes, aging—by focusing on meaning-making, acceptance, and adaptive choices.Stronger interpersonal relationships
Greater self-knowledge and acceptance can improve how individuals relate to others. Clients may develop deeper, more honest connections and healthier boundaries.Increased tolerance for ambiguity and complexity
Existential work cultivates comfort with uncertainty and paradox, helping clients navigate complex or ambiguous situations without needing simple answers.Integration of values into daily life
Therapy often results in practical changes—habit shifts, goal setting, and lifestyle adjustments—that align daily routines with personal values.Applicability across issues and populations
Existential therapy can be adapted for depression, anxiety, grief, identity concerns, chronic illness, and general life dissatisfaction. It complements other therapeutic approaches and can be integrated with cognitive, behavioral, or psychodynamic methods.
Usefulness depends on the individual and the therapeutic relationship; some people prefer more structured or symptom-focused approaches. For those seeking deeper exploration of meaning, choice, and authenticity, existential therapy can offer durable psychological and practical benefits.
“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
— C.G.Jung
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
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