Emily Isaacs
Provisionally Licensed Counselor -
Countless studies have shown that at the end of the day, good relationships = happiness.
So simple, yet so hard – for so many of us, our relationships with ourselves and our partners are fraught with challenges and conflict.
As human beings, our brains give us a gift of amazing potential: we can reflect on our actions and our past, we can plan and we can set goals. We can connect with meaning, stories, metaphor, spirit, the unknown.
And our brains also want us to survive. We have a hair-trigger system that shuts down our thinking brain and activates our survival system when we perceive threat. Under threat, we defend, protect, avoid, fight, distract with substances or screens, and do other things that cut ourselves off from our best selves and our loved ones. We conflate the present with the past and we insist that those around us are repeating the wounds we experienced long ago.
Amazingly, we can call upon our thinking brain to learn about all these very personal and particular patterns, and practice new ways of being, both in our relationship with ourselves, and with those closest to us.
It is excruciatingly painful to be disconnected. I work with individuals and couples with a trauma-informed, body-centered, attachment-based approach that helps wire new awareness, habits, and ways of being that ultimately help people live lives of greater meaning and connection. I have over 15 years of experience working in therapeutic wilderness treatment programs, hospital and crisis clinic settings, and in private practice. I believe deeply in this work and live the principles I use with clients in my own life as a mother and in committed partnership.
Skills and Expertise
Abandonment
Academic Underachievement
Adjusting to Change / Life Transitions
Adjustment to College
Adult
Anger Management
Anxiety
athletes
Attachment Issues
Breakups
Body Image
Women's issue
Trauma
Trauma and PTSD
Stress
Spirituality
Self Esteem
Relationship Issues
Premarital Counseling
pregnancy
Perfectionism
Peer Relationships
Parenting
Panic
Navigating Identity in Relationships
Mindfulness based therapy
Midlife Crisis
Marriage Couseling
Marital Therapy
Loss or Grief
Loss
Life Purpose
Jealousy
Isolation
Infidelity and Affair Recovery
Identity Issues
Individuation
Helplessness and Victimhood
Guilt
grief
Forgiveness
Fear
Fertility Issues
Family Conflict
Family of Origin Issues
Entitlement
Emptiness
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Abuse
Depression
Couples therapy
Couple Counseling
Coping Mechanisms
Control Issues
Communication Problems
Commitment Issues
college age
codependency-2
Codependency
Caregiver Issues or Stress
Treatment Orientation
EMDR
PACT
Transpersonal
DBT Informed Therapy
experiential
Humanistic
Mindfulness
Motivational Interviewing
psychotherapy
Self-Compassion
Somatic
Telehealth-based
Therapy unique to each client
Trauma Focused Therapy
Modality