Individual Therapy
While I’ve dedicated the first two decades of my career in psychotherapy to primarily working with the youngest end of the age spectrum, I’ve learned overtime that much of the work with young children is done with and through the parents, specifically around attachment wounds from the parent’s own childhood that can be triggered by their child’s behaviors today.
Through this work, I have gained much experience in helping parents go back and “claim” these younger parts of themselves and “re-parent” those parts that are causing them problems today.
I help parents learn to separate out what they are responding to in the moment (i.e., recognize the difference between a reaction to their own childhood wound, or something that is truly directly related to their child in the present).
I am now expanding and sharing what I’ve learned by offering this work to ALL ADULTS, not just parents.
What is meant by “”healing attachment wounds?”
Our parents and caregivers did the best they could with whatever resources they had at the time, for better and worse. It is within these early relationships that our mind’s neural pathways were developed. We learned early on which emotions are okay and which are not okay in order to keep our caregivers by our side (right where we needed them to be in order to survive). Those patterns of allowing certain emotions/behaviors shine through while, at the same time, hiding other emotions/behaviors, often repeat themselves in adulthood (without us even realizing this is happening!).
While this coping strategy may have worked well in keeping our caregivers by our sides as children, it often doesn’t serve us as adults when we want to experience connected, healthy relationships with others, such as our children, our partners, bosses, and friends. The reason they don’t work is because we aren’t whole when we have to hide aspects of ourselves away.
Therapy can be a place where new experiences and new ways of being can be practiced, explored, played with, until we create new neural pathways that allow us to be more whole, more complete within ourselves and with those around us.
If you’re interested in doing this kind of work, learning more about yourself so you can experience greater connection, satisfaction and joy in your relationships and in life, please contact me at 510-459-9246 or kimberly@kimberlykerlin.com for more information. I look forward to speaking with you.