Gretchen Scott MA, LMFT

Even when working with individuals we acknowledge that we have families of origin, partners, friends, family, children, siblings, and other micro and macro community relationships that affect us. Our past experiences inform the way we see the world and our relationships. We often find ourselves in negative patterns with people we love and therapy can provide tools to assist in finding new ways to interact and potentially lead to deeper, more connected relationships.

With trust and safety, we can unfurl the complex traumas that we've endured and find new understanding, reframe old narratives that are not accurate, and form boundaries if appropriate, and work to reduce our nervous system's activation and make peace with our past.

Emotional IQ is often neglected in men within our culture. This is a systemic societal failing, not a failure of men. Our parents weren't developed emotionally and although they did their best, we were left to fend for ourselves and figure out the complicated language of emotions, feelings, anger, aggression, how to communicate our feelings, hurt, ways to work-though big feelings, and the means of naming and sharing them. Here we can explore your depth.

We are a complex mix of nurture, resilience, emotional strength, softness & fierceness, loyalty, fear of not being enough or too much, hormones and experiences that inform us. Our complexity is a gift and a challenge. We desire to be known, to be loved, to be seen, to matter. Our tenderness means we will experience hurt and our warrior parts may lead to us hurting others. Women are beautifully complex and worthy of being known and knowing ourselves.

Meaningful relationships lead to our greatest joys and our deepest pain. To be human is to expand with joy and increase with pain. Through supportive coaching of communication tools, listening to understand, recognizing that both/all have valid feelings even if they appear in opposition, recognizing that being known is more important than being right, and the key to deeper connection requires vulnerability, honesty, and beliving the experience of another. Together we can learn to expand/heal.

Naming, understanding, and validating our emotions access and uncover parts differently than cognition, thinking, and logic. We feel our way through healing - my belief is that therapy must be holistic: examining our thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, nervous system, and emotions for our truth.