Proactive Mindfulness in Therapy
Clinicians have different perspectives on what makes therapy work. The territory I have been exploring, Proactive Mindfulness, is about how to engage with clients in a process of assisted self-discovery.
It is an experiential and embodied approach. It includes recognizing moments when interventions feel misaligned with the client because engagement with the emerging experience hasn’t yet taken shape.
Here are some possible entry points for a conversation on how therapists can engage clients with more clarity and depth:
- How mindfulness in therapy is different from mindfulness in meditation
- Introducing embodied work without overwhelming clients
- Using Proactive Mindfulness in trauma work: a counter vortex to the trauma vortex
- Understanding resistance as information, not obstacle
- How to see embodied patterns in relationships and work with them
- Working experientially with clients who are unable or unwilling to explore embodied experience.
I’m comfortable with conversations that are conceptual, conversations that stay close to the realities of therapy sessions, or a mix of both. And I aim to give listeners something they can begin applying in sessions right away.
Trauma-informed, somatic & experiential
I am a therapist and I train therapists in a mindful and proactive approach to change.
I help my clients get actively engaged in the living process of change. This happens by leading them through an experiential and embodied exploration. What makes this process so alive is that we track experience moment-by-moment. So there is a sense of ongoing experimentation and directly learning from experience.
I help therapists bring mindfulness into sessions in a way that is experiential, trauma-aware, and attuned to what actually happens in the room.
Clinical background
My work draws from experiential, embodied approaches to therapy (Focusing, Core Energetics, and Somatic Experiencing).
I have come to see this work as a form of mindfulness practice where clinical judgment, timing, and respect for the client’s internal signals are skillful means.
Writing
I’m the author of The Proactive Twelve Steps. Stephen Porges says this book “brilliantly and succinctly provides a map to disentangle the individual from the pervasive constraints which have limited opportunities to enjoy life.”
Recent writing: “Where Do You Feel That in Your Body?” A brief exploration of how we can unintentionally increase distress in our clients when nervous-system cues are missed, and how to refocus.
Podcast & conversation style
I’m quite familiar with podcasts, as a guest and as the host of a podcast with 200+ episodes.
Logistics
Recording: remote-friendly (Zoom, Riverside), flexible scheduling
Location: USA, near New York City
Contact me at: info (at) proactive mindfulness (dot) com