Valerie Ytzen (She/her)

Families can struggle due to many different reasons. Some of the main areas where families tend to break down include communication styles and attachment styles. When tensions start to build often family members start to isolate and the connection breaks down. My goal in working with families is to build connection, communication, and structure.

As someone who has struggled with and experienced anxiety personally, I value the opportunity to work with individuals who are currently struggling. Life can be full of demands and pressures which can often feel overwhelming. I try to provide a space where individuals can feel safe to share their authentic self without fear of judgment. My focus in figure out the root of the anxiety, process through negative beliefs, and build confidence and acceptance.

I am a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) Practitioner. I like to work with parents to gain a greater understanding of their children's behaviors and explore parent's responses to those behaviors. I find it helpful to also explore parent attachment and communication styles and help to develop improved responses.

In my practice, I often incorporate EMDR and Art Therapy to focus on stuck areas and help to promote growth. EMDR is often used to target negative beliefs about self caused by traumas or negative experiences. Those negative beliefs are processed through using EMDR and are replaced with positive beliefs. Art therapy is utilized to gain insights to self and can help to promote creativity and confidence.

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy used to process through trauma. This approach can be used to process through past traumas, distressing memories and negative beliefs about self. This approach is used to decrease distress caused by past experiences.

Creating art can provide an outlet to express unconscious material. The process of creating art and the realizations and insights that arise often are more impactful than the actual final product of the art. How art therapy generally works during sessions includes an art directive, creation of art, and processing the experience and insights together with an art therapist for guidance.

EMDR therapy is an extensively researched, effective therapy for treating PTSD. EMDR works to desensitize disturbing memories and negative beliefs. With PTSD, there is often a feeling of being stuck. EMDR therapy provides an opportunity to process through those stuck areas in order to gain greater understanding, more positive beliefs, and often a feeling of a weight being lifted.

One of the most important factors of any therapy is your relationship with your therapist. There has to be a good fit in order to make progress. I look at my role as being a guide to help you along as you choose your path. My aim is to help each individual to feel authentic, comfortable, and to trust in themself.

Throughout our lives, we internalize messages that we receive about ourselves. Sometimes due to different experiences we internalize negative messages about ourselves. Therapy can be helpful in order to figure out where those negative messages came from and provides a safe space in order to acknowledge the full affect those experiences have had on us and to explore and allow ourselves to question whether those messages are accurate. The result is often an improved view of self.