Individuals In Crisis
Dr. Hooper will help you learn:
- To “be,” to breathe, to calm and trust yourself
- To acknowledge and name your feelings
- To notice your thoughts without them controlling you
- To detach from distress and establish a calm center
- To distinguish codependence from healthy relationship
- To meet the real need behind dangerous habits
- To utilize integrative and holistic approaches to psychological wellbeing
If you are reading this and have a sense that you are in need of urgent assistance – that you just can’t seem to hold yourself together, then do call 911 or, if you are safe to do so, go to the Emergency Room closest to you and ask to speak with the psychiatrist on duty. If you are not in any danger, call me or send me a message to request an appointment. I will see you at the earliest available hour.
Some Issues That Set A Fire To Our Lives Include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Fear or Phobia
- Physical Trauma
- Being Witness to Violence
- Emotional and Sexual Abuse
- Religious Questions and Doubts
- Chemical Dependency
- Religious, Spiritual, and Cult Abuse
- Experiences of the Paranormal
- Loss of Love or a Loved One
- Existential Crisis of Meaning
- Betrayal
- Failure in Communication with Others
- Infidelity
- Shame
When Life Goes Up In Smoke
The first step in the ancient alchemical process of transforming one substance into another was calcination, burning to a fine ash what has been. When one has the sense that their life has gone down in flames and up in smoke, they have experienced the first stage in the process of inner transformation. These experiences reduce us to our essence. They humble us because, like Icarus who flew too close to the sun, we plummet back to the humus, the good earth.
But the tumble we take can indeed, if we go with it, be a falling upward! Why? We have the opportunity to get “grounded.” And in so doing we get connected to the ground of our being, that sense of authenticity from within and connection with the goodness of unvarnished creation without. This is necessary if we are to rise with the simple dignity of our humanness, no longer measured, judged, and categorized by achievement, opinion of others, or societal persona.
At the same time this initial stage can be a frightening experience because all the props of ego are kicked out from underneath us. We must learn to be, to breathe, to trust. Anxiety and depression are often present at this time. But unless one is completely incapacitated, I encourage them to learn how to live through the feelings, to notice them and their attending thoughts, and return to their center.
From this center, we will work through the subsequent stages and walk the journey to further authenticity and personal integration.
On the home page, you read about therapy as a “Laboratory for the Soul.” The word laboratory is from two words, labor and oratory, which is a place of prayer in a monastery. So the work I do involves a conversation between my clients and myself as well as a deep soul searching conversation within the client, a conversation with that which is greater than themselves and rises to reveal itself in their own honest-to-God authenticity. Some engage this conversation in prayer, others through meditation or journaling. What is most important is creating space for the conversation. I will assist you to do so.
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