Coastal Beaches Therapy
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Services
    • Therapy >
      • Specializations & Approaches
      • Services Not Provided
    • Sports Health Counseling >
      • Sports Health Counseling
      • Mental Performance
      • Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
    • Appointments and Cancellations
    • FAQS
  • Fees & Insurance
    • Fees & Insurance
    • Insurance Reimbursement for Psychotherapy
  • Resources
  • Let's Connect
  • Blog

www.coastalbeachestherapy.com

Coastal Beaches Therapy Blog

Amy Pope-Latham, LCSW

Therapist Privilege: Holding Space for Someone

3/11/2019

 
Picture
What kind of space are you holding for others? Ask yourself this: am I listening to really hear what someone has to say? Or am I listening to respond?

If you listen to respond you will communicate with defensiveness. If you listen with curiosity you will communicate validation.

When your child, partner, friend, and so forth wants to share something with you, he or she wants to be heard. Listen with curiosity, reflect what you heard, and offer validation even if you don't agree. Often times I am approached by parents who are seeking guidance to better understand and "get through" to his or her child. My response is usually simple and to the effect of: "Your child is telling you what they want and how they feel, the solution is to hear what he or she is saying". Seriously. Communicating with children and adolescents is easy when barriers to understanding are removed and words are genuinely heard. I always say, "healing begins the moment we feel heard". If or when you find yourself in a dialogue with your child, spouse, friend, and so forth, I invite you to really take a moment to listen and hear what is being said.

Think of your mind as real estate property. Each time the wheels in your mind begin turning (e.g. thinking of a response, forming a judgment) the valuable property in your mind is being sold to ownership by judgment, emotion, and/or defensive thought. Using this metaphorical mental space example, giving the real estate to listening just to hear, sets the conditions for the development of mental property that is free from judgment and can gain equity through mutual understanding and connection. Remember, you can decide at any moment to designate the real estate in your mind to become open to limitless possibilities, including the possibility of holding a space for someone else to heal and feel safe.

With all this big said, there is a beautiful quote I am so excited to share with you today and it is right below these final sentences. I hope you have a great start to your week!

"The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention...A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words" - Rachel Naomi Remen

Setting Boundaries

1/28/2019

 
Picture
Do not let fear steer the wheel of your life decisions. You can accomplish a lot more looking at things through the lens of love rather than the lens of fear. Once we can acknowledge we are saying no with love instead of saying yes with fear, setting boundaries could become a lot less painful for some. Have a great start to your week! 

An Alternative Thought on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

1/25/2019

 
Generally speaking, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works by breaking down the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes and how these processes relate to how a person behaves (and emotionally responds). 
.
.
Let’s look at this model from a different lens, or a somatic lens: you experience an event your BODY responds with a feeling (e.g danger, fear, excitement, happiness, pain) feeling gets translated into thought/opinion/memory (e.g Is it safe? Is it going to be painful? Can I get hurt from it? Maybe I should post that selfie to show my ex how I’m thriving) you respond and go from there (aka your behavior) 
.
.
.
What’s my point? I hear A LOT of horror stories of folks having their feelings invalidated. Your feelings are so important. YOU are important. And when you are able to identify what you FEEL you can identify the thought and if you can do that, you can do ANYTHING.

    Author

    Amy Pope-Latham, LCSW is a board certified mental health professional in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.
    ​Amy specializes in working with high performance athletes and adolescents. 
    Amy is a certified EMDR therapist and also works with a variety of issues including: grief, anxiety, depression, panic, obsessive compulsive disorder, and perfectionism.

    Archives

    August 2024
    December 2023
    December 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018

    Categories

    All
    Adolescents
    Anxiety
    Athlete
    Beaches
    Biology
    Coping
    Coping Skills
    Counseling
    Eating Disorders
    EMDR
    Family
    Grief
    Healing
    Insurance
    LCSW
    Loss
    Medical
    Medicine
    Mindfulness
    Parenting
    Ponte Vedra Beach
    PTSD
    Sports
    Sports Psychology
    Substance Abuse
    Therapist
    Therapy
    Trauma
    Trauma Recovery

    RSS Feed

Follow along for the latest updates!
COPYRIGHT © 2025 COASTAL BEACHES THERAPY​. 

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Services
    • Therapy >
      • Specializations & Approaches
      • Services Not Provided
    • Sports Health Counseling >
      • Sports Health Counseling
      • Mental Performance
      • Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
    • Appointments and Cancellations
    • FAQS
  • Fees & Insurance
    • Fees & Insurance
    • Insurance Reimbursement for Psychotherapy
  • Resources
  • Let's Connect
  • Blog