Laura Birchard
Initial consultation call with Laura

I don’t really have an elevator pitch. I’m a highly relational therapist whose work is informed by psychodynamic theory and depth oriented (Jungian) therapy, with additional extensive training in trauma informed practices, somatic and attachment based approaches.  I love my work– it is heart and soul centered. It is rooted in a depth and breadth of clinical work, in research, training and practice of evidenced based therapy modalitites. And yet, it is transformed and a new with each new therapy hour, and how this unfolds in a new time and space at the right pace, and how you experience this, with all the complexity and uniqueness you bring with yourself. 

Initial consultation call with Laura

Initial consultation call with Laura

Initial consultation call with Laura

I don’t really have an elevator pitch. I’m a highly relational therapist whose work is informed by psychodynamic theory and depth oriented (Jungian) therapy, with additional extensive training in trauma informed practices, somatic and attachment based approaches.  I love my work– it is heart and soul centered. It is rooted in a depth and breadth of clinical work, in research, training and practice of evidenced based therapy modalitites. And yet, it is transformed and a new with each new therapy hour, and how this unfolds in a new time and space at the right pace, and how you experience this, with all the complexity and uniqueness you bring with yourself. 

Working with the Shadow and Golden Shadow in Therapy

  In the The Red Book, Jung wrote,  "I must learn that the dregs of my thought, my dreams, are the speech of my soul." In poet Robert Bly’s book A Little Book on the Human Shadow: A Poetic Journey into the Dark Side of the Human Personality, Shadow Work, and the Importance of Confronting Our Hidden Self he encapsulates the shifting, shadowy parts of The Shadow in the image of “the long bag we drag behind us” that contains all the discarded parts of ourself.  While we often think of the shadow as our repressed fears, rage, or shame, Jung and Bly also spoke of the golden shadow—the brilliance, creativity, or power we project onto others but struggle to own for ourselves.

Sandplay both simple and profound. Why consider sandplay?

Sandplay both simple and profound. Why consider sandplay?

"Sandplay therapy utilizes a small tray of wet or dry sand in which you are invited to create scenes using miniature objects--a nonverbal communication of their internal and external worlds” (Labovitz Boik, and Goodwin 2000). I believe that we all have an intrinsic creative capacity that is essential to our feelings of aliveness. As a result of overwhelming experiences we can feel cut off from this capacity. Sandplay is a way to safely and in a protected, safe relational space, begin to renew contact with this process.

Healing comes through embodiment of the soul. -Marion Woodman

Often time the fact that we are able to hold hope, that there is a possibility of getting better bodes well for the likelihood that we will get better. You want to heal. If we think of the ways in our life that are teleological, meaning like an acorn they hold the entire oak tree, holding within us the possibility of change, means we are already changing.

I can recall times while camping and hiking, of lighting fires in the wet or cold, and seeing that first flash of ember forming, that initial spark hitting fine tinder. What a fragile time! The ember will grow into a fire with nurturing, attention, careful timing, and and some magic.

Therapy is a place that can foster this process, which is relational process that unfolds over time. Reach out, let’s talk about how therapy can help.

Anxiety

The word anxiety even strikes a sharp splinter into a part of us. Palms sweat, Pulse quickens, thoughts race. Our stomach may quake and even force one to run bathroom.
Anxiety is a profoundly unraveling experience that strikes us at the core, spiraling through layers of biology and spirit.
Carl Jung wrote of the 2 thousand year old man. Our bodies carry centuries of experience and information. Within us is the consciousness of the ages.
Anxiety is a process rooted in our biology which is essential to embodied life. Who has not experienced anxiety? While anxiety is deeply disruptive and may have us questioning who we are, it can also function as a sort of compass. Anxiety may be calling you back to who you really are, your true self, which may have developed layers of false selves to survive difficult situations.

Therapy can help. We can work to understand the meaning of your anxiety, and hear the ways may be calling you back to yourself.

anxiety