Rivka Geoghegan, MFT
Individual Counseling
My Approach
My goal is for you to develop new perspectives on yourself and your life. Although we start out focusing on one particular area or problem, you’ll find that these new experiences of yourself and the world will generalize, creating change in many other aspects of your life.
It is also my goal to help you get more attuned to the content of your internal world. Most people avoid or ignore much of their internal experience, or else are so deeply immersed in it that they get overwhelmed and confused. Together we craft a map of your inner terrain, making sense of your thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
Recognition and understanding of your different parts will give you the capacity to navigate them so they don’t take over and control your experience. Awareness of your internal experience becomes a true resource, giving you information for how to live. This knowing of yourself becomes a steady guide that you can trust and rely on.
My Perspective
I do not view my clients as people who are broken. There are many factors that shape our personality and sense of self; the problem is that much of how we are organized and how we view ourselves is simply out of date. For example, many beliefs about yourself and the world that you developed years ago no longer fit the reality of your present life, yet you may still be living from them. Recognizing that impressions and conditioning from your past no longer apply makes it possible to live a more fulfilling and authentic life. This freedom to be more truly yourself is my hope for you.
My Style
I view therapy as an art. There are a number of ways we will cultivate change and create insight as we work together. I employ a variety of modalities to help you explore and make sense of your experience. Each of these modalities supports my attitude of openness, curiosity and respect, emphasizing the importance of your present experience, your past, and our therapeutic relationship.
Psychodynamic and Attachment theories give me insight into how early life relationships and experiences form a template for your current sense of self and others. One of my primary modes of working is Coherence Therapy, through which I employ experiential techniques that hone in on specific constructs from your past that create and maintain the current symptoms you seek to eliminate. It illuminates the “coherence” and logical sense of these constructs and finds the specific meanings that keep certain behaviors in place.
I often use mindfulness and relational-based methods such as Existential/Humanistic Psychotherapy, the Hakomi Method and the Diamond Approach to guide you into deeper exploration of your immediate experience. This cultivates presence as you enhance your awareness and capacity to recognize more of your experience.