Therapist Profile

My Approach to Helping

To a large extent, we humans create our own experience by how we interpret and respond to events and by how we imagine the future. Our responses tend to be preprogrammed by early life experiences. Our own minds can multiply, confuse, and perpetuate the inevitable pain in life, or heal us to greater joy, love, and creativity. Personal counseling can help us to master our imaginative creation and to steer toward the life we choose with effective strategies. Building on your strengths and the best parts of your life, we will work together to resolve your problems and fulfill your highest dreams. I commit myself to giving my best to you in state-of-the-art psychotherapy. Mind/Body Health I will work with you to create self-hypnotic recordings to align the power of the mind with healing physical health problems. Some health problems, such as allergies to pets and airborne substances, seem to respond especially well to this approach. Unfortuantely, I know of no research to substantiate this claim. We are only beginning to know the extent to which our minds can affect our physical health. Personally, I would seek to direct my mind toward healing from any illness. Please see www.nancymontagna.com/mindbodyhealth.htm for more on this topic Singles Learning to robustly enjoy being single paradoxically prepares you for good loving relationships. Counseling can help you change unsuccessful patterns and develop strategies for getting what you want. Couples After the spontaneous enchantment of falling in love, partners go through predictable stages that require adjustment or result in stress. Find continued harmony and happiness by learning to negotiate for what you really need and want. Parents When you see your child struggling, you may find that your initial response is not helpful. Even a brief consultation can give you an understanding of how to proceed. Career Difficulty with a boss, co-worker, subordinate, or client can cause excessive stress and detract from the quality of your work. Learning the skills of emotional intelligence can enable you to make the most of your opportunities. If your work is not satisfying to you, we will consider your highest values and greatest strengths. We can look at how your current work can shift to become more fulfilling, and broaden our scope to consider what career changes can lead to a greater sense of pupose and passionate engagement. Teens Teens have the great challenge of finding their place in the larger world. Peer judgments, sexual and romantic feelings, and expectations for performance can present pitfalls for their self-esteem until they learn to take a stand for their intrinsic worthiness and discover their unique competencies. They have newly adult bodies and the capacity for actions that have serious consequences. In this transition between child dependence and adult responsibility, they are confronted with choices that have not been provided or screened by their parents. At some point they realize that their parents can no longer control them. They may take their freedom by sneaking and lying to avoid confrontation and therefore lose the benefit of adult guidance and perspective. Ideally, they and their parents learn to negotiate with each other to exchange more responsibility for more freedom. Elders Retirement is an opportunity to re-create our lives with new vitality and purpose. To claim this pleasure and joy, we need to complete unfinished business, make peace with losses, harvest the wise learning of a lifetime, and find ways to share this wisdom where it is needed.

More Info About My Practice

Mental Wellness Classes Pathways to Happiness courses are not problem oriented, but rather apply what is known from the latest research into how you can be happier. The world's happiest people cultivate pleasurable emotion, passionate engagement, purposeful activity, and presence (mindfulness or focused attention). Loving relationships are an important part of happiness. Self-help books, even when they supply accurate information, often fail to help because happiness consists largely in the development of happiness habits. Pathways courses, taught on the phone and through email (no commute!) are designed to supply you with inspiration, accountability, and social support to integrate new ways of thinking and acting into your daily life. See www.pathwaystohappiness.com for more information.