Karambir Khalsa Psy.D., LCP

I encourage clients who are dealing with Anxiety to practice Mindfulness as a way of calming the mind. Cyclical thoughts and emotions can be hard to unlearn. Mindfulness creates awareness in the moment in order to be make a different choice rather than repeating old patterns.

Trauma always involves grief. I use Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' Stages of Grief (i.e., denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) to normalize a client's experience. Not in the sense that what happened was acceptable. Rather, by helping clients to understand that any reasonable person who had gone through what they had would likely be coping with similar issues. In short, people suffer because they are human, not because there is anything intrinsically wrong with them.

It is my firm belief that clients need to be able to tell their story and it is my job to listen and reflect so that they feel seen, heard, and acknowledged. The conversations help me to understand what other treatment modalities are relevant applicable for a client's healing and personal growth.

Thoughts lead to emotions which result in behaviors. By developing mindfulness, clients develop the awareness to be able to make a conscious choice for change rather than repeating dysfunctional patterns.

Whether working with individuals or couples, I often introduce Nonviolent Communication. Clients experience frustration, stress, and anxiety when their needs are not being met in relationship to others in a variety of settings. Helping clients to develop comfort discussing their needs is key to resolving many interpersonal issues that lead them to seek therapy.

I find that part of a client's healing process involves having a safe space in which to share their suffering. My role as therapist is to receive them and their story. My reflections help client's to feel heard. Client's either confirm or correct my reflections, which help me to put together a treatment plan that matches their needs.

Clients who present with anxiety, among others, are often struggling to break out of repetitive patterns of behavior that are triggered by automatic thoughts. Developing a mindful way of being in the present moment can create just enough space between what happens and one's response to allow clients to make a different choice, which leads to healthy outcomes.

Clients, both individual and couples, often present with frustration, stress, and anxiety due to unmet needs. Clients often model dysfunctional behaviors observed during childhood. Nonviolent Communication provides a model of how to communicate one's needs in order to get them met and reduce suffering. The longterm goal is to develop one's own way of communicating one's needs.

Relationship issues can often seem more complex than they are. More often than not, communication problems are at the core of the issue. I use Nonviolent Communication to help clients develop a level of comfort in sharing their needs and receiving the needs of the partner. The 5 Love Languages often come into play as clients may not recognize the love that is being shared if it is not in their preferred language.