November - A Focus on Anger

From a therapeutic perspective, I try to work through all situations in the "healthiest" ways as possible with my clients. Learning and growing are very valuable, however, anger is not always necessary in order to learn and grow. With my clients, we try to deal with whatever we have be given in that moment. Fear and Anger are very strong emotions, and could be dangerous if not understood, but we can definitely learn and grow from them as well. Dialogue, reflection, accountability, compassion, and action are some ways to respond to Fear and Anger in more "healthy" ways.

As my clients will attest, I am very curious about their anger and rage, and the ways they deny it, shut it down, and turn it inward against themselves. What might happen if those abused as children felt their anger? What if women felt their anger? Who would you be betraying if you felt your anger? What are you afraid might happen? In my work, I find that when folks begin to feel their long-supressed anger, they experience profound internal shifts. Often, a heaviness is lifted, and new capacities to experience self-compassion are discovered. A sense of relief washes in, and psychic energy which used to be spent denying anger, is freed up for other feelings, thoughts, and pursuits.

Anger has recently been a common theme among my clients. I specialize in working with sexual assault and molestation survivors, the majority of which have had to suffer from intense triggering and invasive flashback images and/or physical sensations as a result of the unjust Senate hearings and subsequent confirmation of Kavanaugh.