Have you been in therapy for a while without making much progress or being able to maintain the progress that you do make?
Have you been given numerous diagnoses without much relief?
Do you feel checked out from your physical or emotional self or the world around you?
Do you ever feel puzzled by your own internal experience?
These can be signs of higher dissociative abilities. We can help people with complex trauma and dissociation.
When this is addressed, many clients make progress that they have not been able to make or maintain in the past.
What is Dissociation?
It’s really just a skill or strategy the brain develops naturally to adapt to certain life situations! Everyone dissociates to some degree, while some people experience dissociation more often or in more ways.
Complex, developmental trauma or stress contributes to dissociative abilities. People with histories of complex or developmental traumas would likely benefit from dissociation specific interventions.
Many people with long term depression and anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and Panic Disorder can benefit from support. Dissociation specific interventions are typically used in conjunction with other types of therapy.
Therapy Models:
We primarily use the “Anchored” Relational Model (formerly AIR Network). This therapy was developed locally over the past 20 years and is based heavily in neuro-psychological and neuro-developmental research. Anchored supports concerns of Complex PTSD and Dissociation with “interconnected considerations of neurology, development, dignity and competence, resilience, vulnerability, and intersectionality”, while taking into consideration development and impacts of trauma throughout the lifespan.
We work to build on your ability to have a neutral awareness of your internal experience. This will help you build curiosity, cooperation, caring, and connection, internally and externally while honoring your self and others.
This is a heart-centered approach and builds self-compassion, self-care, self-nurturance, and self-kindness.
Our providers may combine other models with Anchored (formerly AIR Network) interventions including the following:
Internal Family Systems and Ego State are the early foundations of dissociation practice. Therapists begin to understand dissociation through these models. We continue to focus on how these models track the internal experience and not just what happens in our external lives.
Imaginal Nurturing, developed by April Steele. We focus on the parts of imaginal nurturing that develop healing and compassion for the self. Imaginal Nurturing fosters an awareness and focus on parts of the self while building emotion skill development.
Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy: developed by Shirley Jean Schmidt, LPC. This strategy is multidimensional, merging ego state with strengths based, client centered, developmental psychology, and self-reparenting therapy models. This model works to meet needs of wounded child parts to help the get unstuck from the past, using internal resources. Use of support, compassion, empathy, radical acceptance, and psychoeducation help mange internal conflicts and promote healing.
Therapists at Mindful Way Counseling who are trained in complex trauma and dissociation: