Hello and thank you for coming to my website! I'm guessing that you wouldn't be here right now if you weren't interested in getting counseling or if you weren't struggling with something difficult. I am here to help and I have some limited spots available!

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 I believe that many of the things we struggle with in the now are results of us having to face things we were not prepared to face in the past.  Our brains learn ways to adapt and stay safe physically or emotionally, then have difficulties giving up the adaptations that kept us safe in the past, even though those adaptations may cause difficulties in the now. When such a struggle happens, people feel stuck and are left feeling anxious and depressed. These and other situations such as a personal crisis, work burnout, the loss of a loved one, life situations such as those we experienced in 2020 are reasons many seek counseling.

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The way of the west is to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and try harder, but that doesn't work most of the time. People tell me that they have tried their hardest to change and I believe them. Much of what drives our feelings and behaviors today is hidden and often acts below our conscious knowledge. It takes an objective person to listen and bring these hidden beliefs and adaptations to light so that they can be changed.   It is hard to think about sharing personal details of life with a complete stranger.  It is my experience, though, that when counseling is approached as a warm, collaborative, and completely nonjudgmental undertaking, change starts happening.

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To me, successful treatment means working with someone to help them navigate, change, or remove beliefs and previous adaptations that may be preventing them from achieving goals or feeling as they want to feel today.

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I work with people ages 12 through adulthood.  I work with adults who have depression, anxiety, stress, PTSD, trauma (both emotional trauma and experiential trauma), acute grief, life transitions, and those who find their past creeping into the present.  EMDR and hypnosis are my primary and preferred modalities and I use a smattering of Mindfulness, CBT, and DBT.  I call EMDR the wonder therapy. Although it began as trauma therapy, EMDR is now used to treat a wide variety of struggles. It is both a tool and a lens for working through problems. It replaced hypnosis as my favored therapy about 4 years ago.

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I see children for a variety of issues including depression, anxiety, stress, and trauma. I will only see children who want help and want therapy. I use EMDR and am skilled in children's EMDR which is very different from adult EMDR.  I was a Children's Mental Health Therapist at St Luke's Children's Mental Health for 5 years

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I see clients W-F from 11 to 6:30 (I take my last appointments at 5:30) at 814 N. 8th St. Suite in the North End of Boise or by telehealth. I am currently full and I'm taking new people for a waitlist only. I am taking people for weight loss hypnosis groups and stop smoking/vaping hypnosis groups and I can take people for single-session hypnosis. For more information about me, my practice, and my experience click the "about me" tab above.

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Telehealth services are also available.

 

Email me at debrusso3@gmail.com or text me at 208- 242- 2701 with inquiries as to availability.
 

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