True Self Integration Therapy
If you’ve landed here, it might be because the echoes of social oppression have left you standing at the crossroads of an identity crisis. This can be a disorienting experience, and identifying your needs and desires within it can feel like deciphering a foreign language.
Maybe you spent so much of your life adapting to the expectations and demands of others that your true self seems like a stranger. Maybe you feel lost, disconnected, as if you’re performing a role rather than living your life..
Common Symptoms:
- Persistent sense of emptiness
- Confusion about personal values
- Relentless search for purpose
Embracing Your True Self Through Healing
Acknowledging the symptoms of an identity crisis is the first step on the path to uncovering your true self, and the path of uncovering your true self parallels the path of rediscovering joy. My practice of spiritual, somatic therapy offers a sanctuary for exploring these aspects of your identity within a compassionate and supportive environment. Together, we will explore the terrain of your true self vs. false self, engaging with the parts of you that have been silenced, neglected, or altered by the weight of oppression.
Through our counseling sessions, you will learn to listen to your intuition with fresh clarity and embrace your needs and desires with open arms. This is where healing begins—not just as an act of reclaiming your identity, but as a journey towards embodying your true nature.
Begin Your Journey Towards Self-Discovery
Are you ready to confront the identity crisis that has kept you from living authentically? If so, reach out and let’s schedule a conversation. Together, we can explore the definition of your true identity, free from the shadows of social oppression, and embrace the life your heart wants to live.
A Unifying Thread in the Tapestry of Counseling
As counselors, we often find ourselves navigating a vast and sometimes overwhelming sea of theories, modalities, and interventions. From psychodynamic approaches to cognitive-behavioral techniques, from existential philosophies to post-modern narratives, the sheer diversity of perspectives can be both exhilarating and confusing. While these many approaches provide a wealth of tools to help our clients, it’s easy to feel lost in the theoretical jungle, unsure which path will lead to the most profound healing.
But what if, instead of focusing on the differences, we consider a thread that unites them all? One concept that seems to weave through almost every major counseling theory is the notion of the “true self” — and the spontaneity that allows that self to emerge.
Spontaneity: A Common Ground for Healing
Let’s think of the true self as a seed. Every person carries this seed deep within them — an essence that holds their authentic desires, values, compassion, and creativity. Counseling, then, is like gardening. Each theory might provide a different way of tending to that seed: some focus on clearing away the weeds, some on nourishing the soil, and others on removing barriers that block sunlight. Yet the ultimate goal remains the same: to create the right conditions for that true self to grow and bloom.
One of the most powerful indicators that this true self is emerging is spontaneity. It’s the moment when a client, no longer weighed down by fear, defenses, or societal expectations, allows themselves to respond naturally to life. Spontaneity is the laughter that bursts out during a session when an insight hits just right. It’s the tears that come unbidden as a client touches on something real and raw. It’s the spontaneous acts of compassion they extend to themselves or others as they begin to let go of old narratives.
Evolutionary Psychology: Compassion Arising Naturally
In evolutionary psychology, spontaneity is tied to aspects of our nature that evolved for survival. Traits like empathy and compassion are latent parts of who we are, ready to arise in the right circumstances. Just as a parent instinctively comforts a crying child, our true self has an innate capacity for care and connection. When clients find themselves responding with unexpected kindness — toward themselves or others — it’s often because the defenses that blocked these natural impulses are starting to dissolve.
Person-Centered Therapy: The Freedom to Be
Carl Rogers, in his person-centered approach, emphasized the importance of creating an environment characterized by empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness. In such an environment, clients are free to let go of the masks they wear and begin to connect with their true selves. When defenses fall away, spontaneity blossoms. Clients begin to laugh, cry, or express anger in ways that feel authentic rather than controlled or suppressed. Rogers believed that this kind of spontaneous expression was a sign that the person was moving toward congruence — a state where their inner experience and outer behavior align.
Post-Modern Constructivist Approaches: What Emerges When We Deconstruct
In post-modern constructivist therapies, like narrative therapy, spontaneity is seen in the space that opens up when old narratives are deconstructed. When clients begin to question the stories they’ve been told about who they are — stories shaped by culture, family, or trauma — something new must fill that space. Often, what arises is spontaneous and surprising. Clients may discover aspects of themselves they didn’t even know existed. By letting go of rigid, culturally-imposed identities, they make room for something more fluid, creative, and true to emerge.
Gestalt Therapy: True Self Energy in the Here and Now
Gestalt therapy brings another beautiful metaphor: the idea of “true self energy.” In a Gestalt session, the focus is on the present moment — on the here and now. The true self is not something distant to be discovered someday; it’s right there, waiting to be experienced if we can only let go of interruptions. Spontaneity in Gestalt therapy is the moment when clients, free from judgment, are able to fully express what they are feeling — whether it’s joy, sadness, or anger. This unfiltered, authentic expression is true self energy in action.
Bowen’s Solid Self: The Spontaneity of Authenticity
In Bowen Family Systems Theory, the “solid self” is that part of us that remains stable in our values and beliefs, regardless of external pressures. The spontaneous expression of this solid self occurs when individuals, no longer reactive or fused with others’ anxieties, can genuinely respond to situations in ways that reflect their core values. It’s the moment a client makes a decision not based on fear or societal expectations, but on what feels true to them.
A Garden of Theories, One True Bloom
While counseling theories may sometimes seem disparate, the concept of the true self and the importance of spontaneity can serve as a unifying theme. Whether we’re helping clients deconstruct old narratives, providing unconditional positive regard, or guiding them to express their emotions in the present moment, we are all gardeners tending to that same seed. The true self, like a plant, grows best when it is free to emerge naturally — when it has the space to be spontaneous.
This isn’t about proposing a new grand theory but rather recognizing that the spontaneity of the true self is an underlying force in all our work. No matter the modality, when we see clients begin to act, feel, and express themselves more spontaneously, we know we are witnessing something profound. We are seeing the true self emerge — an emergence that, in itself, is the essence of healing.