My Approach

Cultivating Curiosity & Compassion

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Lisa first discovered Internal Family Systems (IFS) about six years ago at a training with Richard Schwartz, the founder of IFS. It was immediately evident to her that that this model was different and she sensed the capacity for deep healing for both herself and her clients.

 

It was an intuitive model that made sense. Lisa immediately started down the path to becoming trained as an IFS therapist. As a model, IFS facilitates the relationship between SELF and PARTS in order to allow individual parts the space they need to feel seen, heard, appreciated and understood. IFS does not look at mental health issues as pathology, rather as adaptive responses to our environment.

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Lisa's approach is direct, compassionate and relational.  She believes that the therapeutic relationship (the relationship between the client and the therapist) is the most important part of a successful therapy experience.

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Additional Approaches

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While IFS is the primary modality Lisa uses to work with adults, she is also eclectic and integrative in her approach. Other approaches she may incorporate are Family Systems and Narrative Therapy.  Lisa also views individuals from a neurodiversity-affirming lens, which premises that brain differences are normal parts of the human variation rather than deficits.

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Recently, Lisa trained in Virtual Sandtray therapy, particularly how to integrate Sandtray therapy with IFS. She is excited to provide this additional medium to help individuals and groups externalize and represent the parts in their systems.

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Affiliations

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• National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

• World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)

• Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality—GLMA

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