Carissa Sietsema

I understand, I have been there too, watching myself go through life while feeling like a shell of a person. After experiencing several traumatic events, the loss of both my parents in my early 20’s, and experiencing homelessness I was left reeling with a variety of painful emotions. With the support of some wonderful individuals, I was able to grab control of my life and continue to live boldly. My experiences have shown me the importance in understanding what your emotions are telling you, as they signal what isn’t working in your life. I have also learned that it is crucial that you be able to ask for help instead of trudging ahead alone. While you may have a variety of skills that have helped you get to where you are they may only bring temporary relief or be inefficient at helping you. Therefore, creating a tool box of skills that can help you tackle life’s challenges is necessary. Lastly, improving yourself isn’t enough, our environment, loved ones, and ability to have our needs met impacts us in every way imaginable. In order to thrive we must create a more supportive environment that adds to our life.

In Trauma therapy we will: Use a variety of methods, to help you manage your emotions, reduce your feelings of distress, and challenge unhelpful thoughts Practice using non judgmental mindfulness and acceptance techniques to be aware of what your feelings are telling you. This will allow you to understand that your feelings are valid and serving a purpose Use story telling, journaling, and other creative methods to tell your story, break your “monster” down to size, and regain your courage Identify your strengths, values, and ways you are your own superhero Create an action plan using tools such as narrative therapy and prolonged exposure to face the reminders you’ve been avoiding and help them feel less all consuming.

When treating OCD I use both exposure and response prevention (ERP) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). We will identify the core fears surrounding your thoughts. These core fears are what drive us to perform compulsive behaviors and can hold us hostage. With OCD, there is no negotiating with it, it will try to explain away any rationale we give it. Therefore, the most widely used treatment for OCD is exposure techniques. These will be done at your comfort level and will be individualized to your fears and struggles. As we face exposures together, this will create habituation, meaning the feelings of distress will lessen over time. We must also work on the response prevention part and this is where ACT comes in. With ACT we recognize the thoughts we are having, what they are telling us to do, and learn to sit with them. By sitting with our thoughts and feelings instead of acting on them this allows the exposure activities to work better, and decreases the anxiety and depression we feel from OCD.