How I Work

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"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."
                                                     --Oscar Wilde

"Some it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you."
                                                      --David Whyte

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."
                                                         --Helen Keller

"This fleeting world is like a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream, a flash of lightening in a summer cloud, a flicking lamp, a phantom, and a dream..."
                                                 --The Diamond Sutra

"The truth is more important than the facts."
                                                   --Frank Lloyd Wright

"Even monkeys fall out of trees."
                                                    --Japanese Proverb

"In the end what you don't surrender, well the world just strips away."
                                                    --Bruce Springsteen
At the first session we talk about the current issues you would like addressed, and I gather background information and learn about your strengths and how you have coped in the past. We identify your goals for therapy, and create a treatment plan. 

The number of therapy sessions varies depending on your needs and goals.  

In my office, you can expect to feel:
  • accepted
  • emotionally safe
  • empowered
  • encouraged
  • the focus remains on you and your needs

I've been told that my style is comfortable, accepting, genuine, calm, and pragmatic. 

Although I use a variety of research-based therapeutic methodologies, depending on the needs of the client, I mainly use a trauma-informed approach, which means that I recognize the wide-spread impact of trauma on clients' lives, and use trauma-specific interventions. 

There are many different types of therapeutic models  (hundreds? thousands maybe?) that are tested and found to be effective for different mental health issues. Therapists learn a lot of these models in graduate school and/or post-graduate learning, and then find that they gravitate towards one or a handful of treatment models that seem to work the best for themselves and their clients.  

Research tells us that there are "best practices" or models that research finds to be most effective for certain types of mental health diagnoses. However, The two largest factors in successful mental health treatment are client motivation and the quality of the relationship between client and therapist. 

Here are the models that I typically use with clients:

EMDR Therapy: (Eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy) This treatment is used to resolve past traumas and psychological blocks. During parts of the therapy, right-left brain stimulation is used to help clients face disturbing memories. This allows the brain to re-process information in a more helpful way, similar to what happens in REM sleep. 

Mindfulness and Calming Techniques:  Mindfulness means to bring one's complete attention and focus to the present experience, on a moment-by-moment basis, without judgement. Learning these techniques helps clients to decrease anxiety, depression, and stress. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Changing thoughts, beliefs, and actions is paramount to changing stuck feelings and allowing new perspectives. Clients learn to find new ways to reframe, or restructure, unhelpful thoughts and experiment with more helpful and accurate thought patterns.

Tasks of Mourning: There are four tasks that are recycled throughout life when grieving the loss of a loved one: believe the loss is real, feel the painful feelings, adjust to a new environment both internally and externally, and lastly reinvest in the reality of a new life while remaining connected to the loved one who was lost. The goal is not to cure the grief and loss, but to engage in the process of these tasks.

Ego-State Therapy: A powerful therapy based on the premise that a person is composed of different parts, and sometimes those parts are in conflict with each other.  The parts of our self are called ego states. In session, we work with the part that can benefit the most from the work, rather than just talk intellectually about the problem.

Family Systems Therapy:  When the patterns in the interactions between family members are unhelpful, involving family members in the process of seeking solutions and change is very effective.  The focus of family therapy is on the future, and it's about finding solutions to make things better.  Working towards harmony at home will happen more quickly if everyone is working towards the same goal. 

Art Therapy:  By using creativity and imagination, people of all ages can access feelings, gain insights, and release stress and negativity. In art therapy, the focus is on the process, not the end result. Clients find ways to incorporate creativity into their daily lives to manage stress. 

I also have training in Narrative Therapy, Attachment Theory, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Thought Field Therapy (TFT), Exposure Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Solution-Focused Therapy, and Trauma-Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). 
Phone 612-655-5214
Email lori@lorikinstadlicsw.com
5275 Edina Industrial Blvd, Suite 106, Edina, MN 55439
www.lorikinstadlicsw.com
Flower photo by Seyed Mostafa Zamani, Stockpholio.com