MELISSA MING FOYNES, PhD has over a decade of experience working with people coping with very human struggles: maintaining satisfying relationships, managing intense emotions and thoughts without feeling consumed by them, living in the present moment without being haunted by memories of the past or worries about the future, and arriving at a place where our lives are dictated by us and our values, rather than by traumas and other stressful life experiences. You may already have insight into what isn’t working about your life, and want help figuring out how to transform those insights into effective steps toward change. You may have tried to problem-solve with limited success, despite substantial investments of time, money, and energy. Understandably, you may feel alone and misunderstood, and hopeless, discouraged, or skeptical about the possibility for change. Together, we work to identify how your life would need to be different in order to decrease your distress and suffering, and develop a tailored approach to meet your unique needs and goals. We draw from cutting-edge research and empirically-derived best practices to select approaches that resonate with you, and artfully craft a plan that builds on your strengths and directly targets your specific struggles. We balance acceptance of where you are in any particular moment with your desire for change. We find and build compassion and resilience. Read More…
MATTHEW MUNICH, LICSW, PhD brings 20 years of experience in human service fields helping people find their true selves through understanding what diverted the course of true self expression in the first place. Often life presented hindrances early and often: important relationships that did not meet your basic needs, either by not understanding you, or through outright disregard of who you were and what you needed. Better understanding the impact of those experiences helps us forge the way toward a truer self which feels authentic, which will steadfastly weather emotional turmoil, and which will find deep gratification in life’s pursuits: intimate relationships, employment, leisure. After insight, another part of our work involves finding concrete steps to manage the symptoms of false-self adaptations: a compromised sense of agency, reduced self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and repetitive unsatisfying relationship patterns. Apart from early formational relationships, another pathway toward these life-impeding symptoms can emerge from negative life events: trauma, relationship rupture (i.e. break-up, divorce, interpersonal conflict), employment termination, or confusion in professional direction. These events also greatly impede the ability to go through life mindfully, confidently, and with a clear sense of purpose. Whatever the source of your particular struggles, we can chart a course through them with a collaborative plan involving both insight and skill building. We can move from despair into hopefulness, from lack of control to agency, ultimately arriving at solutions that are consistent with your values and in harmony with your true self. Read More…