Everything You Need to Know About Therapy for Women
What Makes Therapy for Women Unique?
Women today have so many choices and more commitments and expectations than ever before. In times like these, women feel so much pressure to ‘do it all.’ We feel pressure to be perfect in so many areas: look perfect, have a great career, be the perfect wife/girlfriend/friend, and have time for a seven-step skincare routine. At Flourishment Psychology, one of my passions is supporting women to navigate these never-ending pressures, to push back on a perfectionistic narrative, and to intentionally create a life they love.
The phrase ‘self-care’ gets thrown around casually these days, and at times, conjures up images of bubble baths and scented candles. Self-care is also doing hard work today for your future self. It’s incorporating regular activities that ‘fill up your cup’ so that you don’t burn out or need a break from your life. It’s taking care of your physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being so that you can show up in your life. The women I work with think of therapy as part of their regular wellness routine. I become part of their ‘team’ to support them to flourish in their big, beautiful lives.
How Do I Know if Therapy is Right for Me?
Are you seeking change in your life? Do you want to feel sturdier in stressful life moments rather than feeling rocked by them? Are you looking for deeper, more meaningful connections in your relationships? Do you want more intimacy and security in your romantic relationships? Do you have a feeling that you’re about to level up in your life and that great things are in store for you? Or are you looking for your passion projects and a sense of direction?
I want you to know--these questions are so common. Everyone has periods of time when they feel this way and ask themselves these questions. Asking the questions themselves takes so much courage and is the first step on your path to changing your life.
What Areas Can We Work on in Therapy for Women?
Your Relationship with Yourself
Your relationship with yourself is incredibly important. It influences the way you show up in all areas of your life. Self-love is the prerequisite to loving others. Your capacity for self-compassion impacts the compassion and empathy you can offer to others. This work can include deepening your understanding of yourself, shifting those parts of yourself that you don’t love, and accepting those parts of yourself that you can’t change. It’s addressing insecurities, overcoming perfectionism, and facing self-doubt. You are worthy regardless. You are enough.
We will work to build shame resilience so that you can be more vulnerable and empathetic with yourself and others instead of having to ‘armor up’ to protect yourself from shame. Ultimately, your relationship with yourself is built on trusting yourself the same way you trust others—that you keep promises to yourself, don’t abandon yourself, and trusting that you can do hard things.
Your Relationship with Others
We are relational people. You are built to exist within communities and connectedness. And yet, being connected to others can be so painful. You may feel confused, disappointed, hurt, mistreated, or sad. You can create better relationships with others by understanding your attachment styles, your core beliefs, and the meaning you make of events and interactions. When you have knowledge of your attachment style, you have an awareness of the lens through which all information is filtered through to get to you. With this knowledge, you can actively challenge the filter and look for different ways to understand situations. We can also work on effectively communicating your feelings and needs to others so that you can get your needs met.
People-pleasing and co-dependent behaviors are also areas of focus in understanding your relationship with others. You may engage in these strategies because you fear upsetting others or it’s hard to sit with others being displeased with you. In therapy, I will help you recognize when you are not responsible for others or others’ emotions, and that you are valid in placing your needs as a priority even when others want something different from you. Setting verbal and physical boundaries allows you to be autonomous and meet your own needs.
Romantic Relationships & Dating
As an intrepid traveler on the path to love, you open yourself to whatever comes your way—fear, hurt, neediness, anxiety, joy, desire. To manage anxiety about being rejected or being hurt, we maneuver and manipulate to stay safe. We ‘armor up’ to shield our soft underbelly of vulnerability. In dating, we feel a sense of urgency as our value as women are often determined by where we are in relation to ‘having a partner’ and motherhood. In our romantic relationships, we long to be known deeply and completely, to be seen authentically and accepted regardless of being imperfect.
Romantic relationships challenge us to break through our ego and strongly held beliefs of who we are, what is right, or what our partner must be or do for us. The challenges of your romantic relationship may cause you to want to run away, put on a mask, hide from your partner. These relationships challenge us to stay and be vulnerable instead of using all of our defenses to stay safe. They challenge our long-held beliefs about our ok-ness, worthiness, and adequacy for love. Whether you are newly dating or have been with your partner for years, therapy for women can support you in becoming aware of how old stories are impacting your connection and help you become more securely intimate.
Your Relationship with Your Body
Your relationship with your body is the foundation of so much of physical and mental health. You’ve probably heard—exercise is one of the most underused anti-depressants and food is one of the most overused anti-depressants. Regardless of body size, our relationship with our bodies, movement, and food is one of foundational importance and can impact most other domains of our lives. Counseling for women’s issues can be a time to reflect on your thoughts and feelings about your body, how you treat yourself and your body, and ways that you punish or reward yourself through your body.
Dreams & Goals for Your Career
Therapy can be a productive place to reflect on what you want in your career and professional life and plan out the next steps to achieve your goals. Whether it’s starting your own business, navigating office politics, building the courage to ask for a raise or promotion, or being brave enough to say you don’t want to work as hard or want to leave your career, I can help you navigate these decisions and support you in creating your best life.
Trauma Treatment for Women
Trauma touches so many women’s lives, as a single event or a ‘rock your world’ kind of event. The women I work with have experienced many types of trauma—parents with substance abuse issues, sexual assault or violence, sexual harassment, trauma from giving birth, and relational trauma from childhood. Trauma is much more common and widely experienced than we used to think. So it makes sense that many women would seek therapy to help them process trauma and make sense of what has happened.
Trauma treatment for women includes helping you to learn to soothe your nervous system so that you are not in ‘fight or flight’ all the times. You make want to talk through your trauma to integrate and understand it in a different way. Or you may want a more body-based therapy such as EMDR to help you integrate the trauma in your body without talking too much about it.
What is my Personal Approach to Therapy with Women?
My approach as a psychologist for women is to create a compassionate, reflective, and empowering space to do deep and meaningful work. I support you to be courageous in your journey of growth and becoming more aware of your internal world. Taking a holistic, integrated approach to therapy, I hold space for all of the parts of you and see you as a whole person--mind, body, and soul. My style in therapy is to be a supportive listener who is also active and directive when needed. I am willing to compassionately call out those unnamed things that may be holding you back. I am passionate about helping my clients question the impact of patriarchal pressures and ways that we internalize misogyny, sexism, and white supremacy.
How Do Things Change in Therapy?
I use a variety of approaches to therapy, including mind-body therapies, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Attachment-based Therapy, Trauma-Informed approaches, Mindfulness, and EMDR. Taking from all of these evidence-based approaches and applying them within the context of attachment work allows me to integrate many useful techniques and respond flexibly to whatever we’re working on in therapy.
All transformation starts with awareness. We create change in counseling for women’s issues by increasing your awareness of your internal world. We can work to understand your attachment style and how it influences how you interact with yourself, others, and the world. In addition to how it influences the meaning you make of events.
Some things we will do in our sessions for therapy for women include identifying your self-talk and understanding the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and actions. I want to help you get rid of the ‘shoulds’—who you should be, how you should be, what you should be—so that you can listen to your inner voice and trust your intuition. We will reflect on your social connections and how you get your needs met in relationships. We will work on acceptance of those things you cannot change and changing those things that are under your control.
Start Getting Support So You Can Flourish with Therapy for Women in Los Angeles, CA
Starting your healing journey and adding a Psychologist for women as a part of your support team is a form of self-care. Which can help you grow, increase your self-compassion, and empower you. Get started in counseling for women’s issues by following these steps:
Contact me to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.
If Flourishment Psychology is a good match, we will schedule your first appointment.
Begin thriving in your big, beautiful life!
Other Counseling Services I Offer in Los Angeles, CA
As a Psychologist, I offer a variety of services for individuals, therapists, and families. Besides counseling for women’s issues, I also offer anxiety treatment, corporate wellness training, and clinical training. All of these services are offered in person in Los Angeles or virtually in California and New York.
