Ms Georgeanna Lewis

Relational

In person I am warm, open, curious and responsive. I am reflective, thoughtful, sometimes forgetful, and appreciate humor when it arises, as it inevitably does, in my interactions with clients. I am attentive to what goes on between us. I strive to be genuine, and to “show up” as a person in my own right, since I believe that psychotherapy is an activity between two people, working and talking together. To enter therapy is to enter into relationship as well as conversation.

Client Centered

​Moreover, in that conversation, I don’t believe I should be the “expert,” asserting that I am “in the know” about what ails you. I listen carefully to you, attempt to understand your experience and your feelings, and work together with you to figure out what will help you feel better and function better in your relationships and in your life tasks. I think of my work as helping the clients' own instinctual striving for healthy development and connection to others to emerge, which I believe happens even in the most adverse circumstances.

Somatically and Affectively Focused

I use a variety of approaches to address the whole person, incorporating mindfulness and mind/body approaches where appropriate to support emotional regulation. I may examine conscious thoughts, perspectives, and ideas about issues you bring to therapy, but also will likely explore feelings, symptoms, and body sensations that are less conscious, confusing and often painful -- but which may provide clues to these other problems.

Psychodynamic

My first goal is to ensure that the space we create together is a safe one for you, in which difficult issues and emotions can be explored without judgment. (For some clients who don’t trust easily this can take a long time, and become a primary goal of therapy.) In this context, patterns of behavior and emotional response often reveal their origins in early life experiences that long ago engendered assumptions about the world, the self, or other people. In my view, problematic behaviors always represent a human being’s best attempt at some point in life at adapting to or defending against a bad, even catastrophic, reality. My clients often assume that certain habits, behaviors, or emotional responses are just “who they are”, when in fact they may reflect reaction-patterns (coping responses) to experiences partially or completely forgotten, which are continually triggered by current challenges. Clients may feel ashamed of these parts of themselves, and try to hide them or cover them up when they emerge in therapy with me; however when those deep involuntary behaviors and emotions emerge in the context of a therapeutic relationship, that emergence can provide a unique and valuable opportunity to understand and accept parts of the self that have long been disavowed, as well as provide an opportunity to address them in ways that can be transforming.

Attentive to Language, Image and Story

In my practice I incorporate aspects of my past experience as a student and teacher of creative writing and literature by considering the ways in which clients use language to describe themselves, and by working with them to understand their stories. If it is of interest to you, I am also open to exploring your own creative work as a window into your internal experience, or to bringing in writings or even writing exercises to facilitate growth and exploration. Finally, this background may be useful in helping you to interpret persistent behaviors, spontaneous images, or dreams.