What is depth psychotherapy - denver counseling options - elisha gilb

Looking Beneath the Surface: What is Depth Psychotherapy?

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, denver counseling, dreams, psychotherapy, subconscious

12 November 2015 / 0 comments

What is depth psychotherapy? Depth psychotherapy is a psychoanalytic therapeutic modality meaning that it looks at the unconscious and early life experiences as fundamental aspects influencing us in the here and now. A depth psychotherapy session may look at teasing a part a dream the client had or using active imagination to move a problem through a person’s life.

The work done in depth therapy centers around dream work. A person may bring in a very important dream. The therapeutic work would stem from looking at the components of the dreams, for example, the images. We would look to explore the meanings and significance of factors making up the dream, and the implications of the dream or unconscious material on the person’s lived experience. The work and dream could be further extended by using active imagination. For example, perhaps a dead relative came to the dreamer, and before the dreamer could ask an important question, the dreamer woke up. Extending the work therapeutically via active imagination, I’d ask the dreamer to continue the conversation in the therapy setting. This type of work holds significance as it allows unconscious material to become conscious, and moves psychic energy into the personal growth and understanding of psychic material. (more…)

Lori Poland Jackson Denver Counseling Options

Watch: Lori Talks About the Body’s Response to Pain

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, fear, lori poland jackson, trauma

14 August 2015 / 0 comments

One of our therapists, Lori, describes the typical bodily response and cycle after experiencing any form of pain. Lori talks to the body’s need to fight or flight, and how this turns into an emotional reaction and how we then want to control things in order to manage the emotions that are so painful. Lori explains that fear runs this phenomena and it keeps us from trusting, from living in a place of love, and from healing. She speaks to the ability to love after hurt and how beautiful and authentic it feels.

Lori goes on to talk about a camp she has dreamt of opening for over 20 years. Lori’s goal is to create a safe place where children, families, individuals and couples can attend and get treatment and joy, and peace and care, which in her belief will allow them to heal, find love and be love. Keep your eye out for more information as Lori gets closer and closer to her goal. (more…)

Watch: Lori Talks About Long-Term Effects of Trauma

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, mental health, therapy, trauma

3 August 2015 / 0 comments

One of our therapists, Lori, talks about the long-term effects of trauma and how more often than not, when an adult hurts someone, that person was hurt as a child and made ongoing choices to compound that hurt into a greater pain.

Lori explains the beauty of working with people through difficult things, and how the joy is in watching people heal, find love, and grow from their experiences in life.

Lori helps to explain some of the long-term effects that individuals with trauma go through, such as carrying fear around for years and letting it make the choices in life as opposed being a strong independent individual who has chosen to live the life they do. (more…)

Video: Lori Explains the Ripple Effects of Trauma

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, lori poland, therapy, trauma

3 August 2015 / 0 comments

Everyone in experiences some form of hardship and trauma in life. Whether it be the loss of an animal, having an abusive experience, a car accident or what-have-you, in the human experience, we are all here suffering and surviving together.

Lori’s work is to support individuals in healing through their pain, making choices that follow the vision of who each person individually wants to be. Having a trauma background surely does not define Lori, nor is it a topic that is often broached in her therapeutic process, however it informs her work and allows her to gain a stronger level of empathy for all people collectively.

In this video, from her interview with Cheryl Preheim of Denver’s 9NEWS, Lori explains the ripple of effects of trauma and how, when one event occurs, the actual trauma that each person in that event faces can be completely different and have different ways of being treated, supported and healed. (more…)

New clients: Get a special rate for summer therapy sessions

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, couples therapy, denver counseling, family counseling, therapy, trauma therapy

13 July 2015 / 0 comments

Happy Summer, friends!

At Denver Counseling Options, we are committed to helping you unlock the keys to achieving optimal mental wellness. Have you been thinking about giving therapy a try or know someone who is? Well, this summer is a great time to act. We are offering special, discounted sessions for new clients. We want counseling to be more affordable and accessible to everyone who wants to be well, so our new client rate is $50 an hour — a $70 discount off our regular rate. Please contact us if you want to work with one of our therapists but need to discuss other financial options and rates. We want to help.

Maybe you’re going through a tough time, or maybe you’re feeling great. No matter where we are in life, we can always make more progress toward being our best selves.

All of our therapists are highly trained and experienced and provide beneficial counseling in a comfortable, safe setting for couples, families and individuals of all ages using a variety of therapy methods.

We will work with you to help you feel inspired and empowered in your own life and relationships with others. You deserve love and happiness!

Click here to set up an appointment or call us at 720-432-2813 to learn more.

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How to know when to go to therapy

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, self-love, therapy

20 May 2015 / 0 comments

Honestly and sadly, most of us go to or back to therapy when things have fallen apart in our lives. When we feel helpless, unsure, scared and lonely. While this is normal and millions of people find exactly what they need, there is also a time when life is healthy, you are well, things are working, and you’re ready, before it breaks again or “the other shoe drops” to do a little self-work.

It is in a healthy “self-work” state when I find clients doing the really hard work, the life-changing work. They are able and strong and excited to be well, live well and create a new life. It is in this state of mind that I feel so honored to work with clients. They have an ability to be vulnerable and open and find their inner selves. It’s like losing 75 pounds after having been on a very strict diet and exercise routine, and ending your program to beginning to tone the new you. Focus on maintaining your wellness, and finding new ways to challenge your body to be amazing.

How do we get to this place, you may ask. Well, it all starts somewhere, right? We start with looking at our lives and deciding what we are doing is not what we want to be doing. Our relationships are not the ones we want to have. The choices we make are not fulfilling and authentic to the person we see, desire to be, or long to be. We start by looking at our picture of life and saying “I’m tired,” “I’m over it,” “I don’t want to do it like this anymore,” “Wow, it doesn’t get better no matter what I am doing,” and it is in this place that we call and say, “OK, I’m ready. I’m willing.” This is where we often start, and the rest is hard and challenging in a refreshing sort of way.

When beginning work with new clients, I often use the analogy of therapy being similar to house cleaning. First, we have to notice our house is dirty before we clean it. Then we begin to take everything off of the shelves, stack it in a pile behind us, and clean off all the shelves. It is then that we turn around and see we have created a bigger mess than we had to start with (the hardest part). It is then that we begin to examine our items, some we throw away, others we note need fixing, other items we give away, while some of it just needs a good wipe-down, then we put it back on the shelf. It is a “process” because we can’t do it all at once, and we have to go through each step in order to achieve the goal we have set out. This is the journey — dirty, hard, yet so rewarding and refreshing in the end. This is therapy. Come … Let me support you.

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Why should I go to therapy?

posted by DCO-Admin | Taged as - counseling, happiness, therapy, why therapy

12 May 2015 / 0 comments

A client and I are in a session together. He or she begins to whisper when the conversation turns to explaining to others why they come to therapy. Often times, their voice turns softer, they look at me with lost eyes, and then begin almost desperately trying to justify every reason why they are sitting in front of me. It often feels like a slight mixture of fear, confusion, and desperation. Fear of judgment or having made the wrong choice, confusion because they are better now than when they started coming (but is this just because I am not as upset about “that thing” anymore?), and desperation because they want me to tell them that they are here for the right reasons and help comfort them in validating their choice.

Believe you me, a few years ago, and sometimes even today, I hear the above conversation, and the little voice in my head begins to panic and creates a cocktail that looks really similar to the above remedy. I too, doubt myself, my choices, my work, my actions, all at certain times … Why? Because I am a warm-blooded human who is scared like the rest of us, who wants to be sure that it makes sense and that “they” won’t “say” X, Y or Z about little old ME.

Well, here’s the honest to God truth: there is no such thing as “they.” “They” are YOU, and ME, and our NEIGHBORS, our FRIENDS. “They” are the next person who is scared, confusednand desperate.

So my answer to why do I go to therapy at times is this: “Because when I go and see Mark, I leave there feeling like for the last hour, I could just be me. I could talk about myself and how I felt, I could have him lovingly help me to see how what I am thinking or feeling or doing is or isn’t helping me and my relationships. When I do go to therapy, I feel heard, I feel valued, I feel insightful, open, willing, dedicated, determined, loving, happy, accepting, joy-filled, honored, excited, hopeful, eager, and most importantly and frankly, just BETTER.” I often find that the people to judge or ask me why I pay to go, or tell me their opinion as to why it’s not a good thing — “they” — those people, are often times the ones who need the most love and support and, yep, I’m gonna say it: THERAPY.

Do what you do for you and the world will be so rad!