Tom O'Neill Therapy
I believe that opening to the full spectrum of ourselves is the path of authenticity and self-love. My goal is to guide that opening and the practice of living it consciously. That process is often challenging for it includes encountering the trauma/pain that has kept us stuck. That pain
is also part of who we are and we can work with it compassionately and respectfully. My invitation is 'Come as you are. All of you is welcome.'
You will find your strength in the opening, in a process that returns you
to your power.
Clinical View
“Great Love abides at the core of our nature. If Great Love is like the sun, our woundedness is like a cloud cover temporarily blocking its rays. Healing the love-wound then means making ourselves available to the sun, that it may do what it naturally wants to do: shine upon us.”
—John Welwood
The challenges we encounter on our life’s journey—loss, painful transitions, trauma, addiction—call us to open to new ways of being. They challenge our beliefs, our narratives, our defenses, our capacities to hold our seats as we work with what’s arising in us. If we respond to the call of such challenges, we can’t help but to grow, for we must question old ways of being and old identities that no longer serve us; and we must open to “shadow” emotions—anger, shame, grief—that seek expression in order for the “new” to emerge.
As a Contemplative Psychotherapist, I understand that your capacity to accommodate such a process abides in your essential nature, in its inherent openness, clarity, and warmth. My goal is to help you connect to those qualities and bring them into relationship with yourself, especially during challenging times. Emotional and cognitive tendencies, relational patterns, and areas of “stuckness” may point to aspects of you that carry wounding and the adaptations you have made to protect that wounding. Together we can invite in those aspects and explore them with kindness, curiosity, and the understanding that they do not define you, but are parts of a vast and dynamic system of self.
Drawing from mindfulness modalities like Gestalt Psychology and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), I help clients reclaim their agency in times of stress. Drawing from contemplative traditions and Jungian Psychology, I help clients come into relationship with past and present selves in depth work that facilitates true healing. I seek to create a compassion space in which you can explore, understand, and transform your life.
If you would like to schedule an appointment, please contact me here.
© 2016 by Tom O'Neill. Watercolor by Georgia O'Keeffe