Struggling? You Are Not Alone.
Deciding to pursue therapy is brave and indicative of the health and strength inside of you (it means you are willing and open to addressing your pain and/or struggles). Its pursuit can feel like a vulnerable and challenging undertaking, but it can also be immensely beneficial and life-altering. Hence, it is important to find a therapist with whom you feel safe and comfortable. Therapy can be highly beneficial when used and applied appropriately. I hope this website offers you an idea of whether or not I may be of support to you.
In terms of my practice, I have been in private practice for nearly 15-years, (in clinical practice for over 20-years,) and consider myself to be a trauma-informed therapist. I believe each experience in our lives leaves an imprint on our minds and bodies; thus, affecting our brain functioning, coloring our perception, and fueling and/or paralyzing our reactions and relationships to our inside and outside worlds. There is a rhyme and reason for how and why we behave and feel the way we do, and none of it is about being “bad,” “broken,” or “unlovable” (words I often hear from the individuals in my practice). The goal of therapy with me is: to help support you to become more curious about what drives how you act, react, and feel; to help you connect with these parts; and then ultimately, to learn how to soothe and heal these parts (something I call learned secure inner-connection). This can then afford you the opportunity to work and live with yourself and others in a more loving, fun, rewarding, and reciprocal fashion.
I have been trained in a variety of models including: psychodynamic, internal family systems (IFS,) relational, and cognitive behavioral techniques. Most recently, the bulk of my work is trauma-informed, relying heavily on attachment-based models of therapy (with a focus on connection vs attachment,) as well as sensorimotor, mindfulness, neurologically informed interventions, and something I call, inner-wisdom attunement. It may also be important to note that the role of intuition also plays a part in therapy with me and within the therapeutic process. Intuition affords me the ability to notice and/or sense cues that would otherwise go unaddressed and can provide a deeper or more complex layer to understanding, attunement, and connection within the therapeutic process and relationship- something not readily afforded in strictly manualized or technical treatments.
I believe healing is possible for anyone who wants it to be possible. I have extensive experience working with individuals, couples and families with an array of struggles. I have mostly worked with individuals with an enduring complex trauma history (predominately C-PTSD and/or relational/attachment trauma,) as well as those with the label of major depression, panic, generalized anxiety, dissociation, and ADHD. I am whole-heartedly committed to helping you build a relationship with yourself that can afford you the ability to self-soothe, love, work, and play in ways that may not have been imaginable to you before. The individuals in my practice often times tell me that they never thought they would ever get to the place that they arrive- often skeptical that they could ever feel differently than they do when they first step into my office- and then fortified when it gradually happens, and they begin to learn to tap into the wholeness and resourcefulness within themselves.
At the same time, I do not offer any "solutions" nor do I have any solutions. In my years of practice, what I have noticed is that what we call "solutions" often times come and go organically once the root cause is understood and addressed/soothed. Hence, I will work with you to learn to find a way back to your true self so that you may discover ways to feel more calm, understanding and trusting toward yourself. This may then afford you the ability to engage with yourself, relationships, and life in more rewarding and reliable ways. This includes an understanding that "triggers" and challenges will continue to present themselves; however, it is in discovering AND practicing ways to respond to these challenges that impacts how we experience or interact with life. Life, as we know it is inherently traumatic, and for those who also have a complex trauma history, it is doubly traumatic; however, healing is always available.
Please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about the nature of therapy, my approach, and/or whether or not therapy with me may be of benefit to you. I know, from both a personal and professional level, that the right, knowing presence can make a world of difference. Where there is a will, there is a way. One need only oneself to take the first step.
--Dr. Azita Afshar, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
In terms of my practice, I have been in private practice for nearly 15-years, (in clinical practice for over 20-years,) and consider myself to be a trauma-informed therapist. I believe each experience in our lives leaves an imprint on our minds and bodies; thus, affecting our brain functioning, coloring our perception, and fueling and/or paralyzing our reactions and relationships to our inside and outside worlds. There is a rhyme and reason for how and why we behave and feel the way we do, and none of it is about being “bad,” “broken,” or “unlovable” (words I often hear from the individuals in my practice). The goal of therapy with me is: to help support you to become more curious about what drives how you act, react, and feel; to help you connect with these parts; and then ultimately, to learn how to soothe and heal these parts (something I call learned secure inner-connection). This can then afford you the opportunity to work and live with yourself and others in a more loving, fun, rewarding, and reciprocal fashion.
I have been trained in a variety of models including: psychodynamic, internal family systems (IFS,) relational, and cognitive behavioral techniques. Most recently, the bulk of my work is trauma-informed, relying heavily on attachment-based models of therapy (with a focus on connection vs attachment,) as well as sensorimotor, mindfulness, neurologically informed interventions, and something I call, inner-wisdom attunement. It may also be important to note that the role of intuition also plays a part in therapy with me and within the therapeutic process. Intuition affords me the ability to notice and/or sense cues that would otherwise go unaddressed and can provide a deeper or more complex layer to understanding, attunement, and connection within the therapeutic process and relationship- something not readily afforded in strictly manualized or technical treatments.
I believe healing is possible for anyone who wants it to be possible. I have extensive experience working with individuals, couples and families with an array of struggles. I have mostly worked with individuals with an enduring complex trauma history (predominately C-PTSD and/or relational/attachment trauma,) as well as those with the label of major depression, panic, generalized anxiety, dissociation, and ADHD. I am whole-heartedly committed to helping you build a relationship with yourself that can afford you the ability to self-soothe, love, work, and play in ways that may not have been imaginable to you before. The individuals in my practice often times tell me that they never thought they would ever get to the place that they arrive- often skeptical that they could ever feel differently than they do when they first step into my office- and then fortified when it gradually happens, and they begin to learn to tap into the wholeness and resourcefulness within themselves.
At the same time, I do not offer any "solutions" nor do I have any solutions. In my years of practice, what I have noticed is that what we call "solutions" often times come and go organically once the root cause is understood and addressed/soothed. Hence, I will work with you to learn to find a way back to your true self so that you may discover ways to feel more calm, understanding and trusting toward yourself. This may then afford you the ability to engage with yourself, relationships, and life in more rewarding and reliable ways. This includes an understanding that "triggers" and challenges will continue to present themselves; however, it is in discovering AND practicing ways to respond to these challenges that impacts how we experience or interact with life. Life, as we know it is inherently traumatic, and for those who also have a complex trauma history, it is doubly traumatic; however, healing is always available.
Please do not hesitate to contact me. I am happy to answer any questions you may have about the nature of therapy, my approach, and/or whether or not therapy with me may be of benefit to you. I know, from both a personal and professional level, that the right, knowing presence can make a world of difference. Where there is a will, there is a way. One need only oneself to take the first step.
--Dr. Azita Afshar, Psy.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
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