every Part of you
therapeutic approach
Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM)and Internal Family Systems (IFS) blend together beautifully and they are the foundational way I work. Instead of traditional talk therapy sessions, we will focus our time on working with a part, or parts, of yourself that are directly connected to areas of struggle. The sessions will likely feel different from what you may have experienced with other therapists before.
What is Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) ?
For some people, welcoming all parts of ourselves feels very scary; we’ve been struggling for years or decades to change these parts. For others this invitation feels immediately safe (or something close to safe). It’s provocative in our culture to meet the aspects of ourselves that have been labeled anxious, depressed, angry, dissociative, manipulative, judging, etc. with curiosity and compassion.
But IFS therapy does just that. Issues, that in other therapeutic models would feel pathologizing, are identified as protective parts of ourselves that can be approached with curiosity. When welcomed, our parts can often provide vital details about how they offered brilliant support to us, once a upon a time.
But as adults those strategies can create problems for us in work or personal relationships. IFS therapy allows you to create the space between you and your parts to learn what they are protecting; update the parts that don’t know you’re an adult now; heal past trauma and wounding that led to these strategies; and invite these valuable parts of yourself to choose a new supportive role in your life.
What is the Comprehensive Resource Model (CRM)?
Neuroscientists now know that if the brain can process trauma under the right conditions, healing can occur that will last. New pathways are established. There are likely many therapeutic routes to such healing. IFS can be such a route. But quite often when remembering very difficult experiences, many of our parts need additional neuro-biological / nervous system resource supports in order to fully heal trauma.
CRM offers robust tools that create the necessary environment for our brains to safely process and heal from our worst trauma memories. These tools include breathing practices; attuning to attachment figures; practices to remain in our bodies (break dissociation patterns); remembering our biological connection to nature; and anchoring the work with eye positions.
people come for support related to:
about Christina
Christina (she/her) holds a MSW from Portland State University and is clinically licensed in Oregon and Washington states. She previously worked as a palliative care social worker in medical clinics, first in Oncology and then Primary Care. She has a passion for supporting people and their loved ones in having the difficult conversations that lead to deeper connections, clearer boundaries; and increased sense of relational safety. In her private practice Christina works with adults ages 18 – 101 to explore patterns, habits, beliefs that have felt limiting. She supports her clients as they courageously try on new ways of being in the world, using tools to increase and maintain nervous system safety, so the change is lasting. Christina continues to educate herself about the systemic and cultural oppression experienced by the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities and those who have been labeled disabled. She works with her own parts who have directly or indirectly perpetrated oppression against others.
let’s connect
I offer complementary 20 min. conversations. Let’s see if working together feels like a fit.
