Best Practices in Mind
Best Practices in Mind
Welcome
Having the courage to seek help and trust your choices in unknown waters can be an empowering experience. To know when you have suffered enough. Whether you are navigating symptoms or situations or both, you believe things can be different and you are driven to make them so. That’s why you're here, correct? Before you came to this site were you aware of your courage, your belief in a better future, or that you had the drive to make it happen? In those terms? As a therapist, I can help you change perspective like the second set of eyes when you have lost your keys. I can help you with personal transformation. I can show you how to adopt positive habits that don’t include attachments and let go of that which no longer serves you.
The past provides valuable lessons, but is not a place to live. I equip you with the tools and knowledge to truly care for yourself.
Together, we navigate the journey, as you take the driver's seat!
My Philosophy
On how we Tick:
The past offers us valuable lessons, but it is not a place to live
You're as unique as your own fingerprint. Each one of us struggles with the burdens rooted in our past, present and future. When you come into our office, your sessions will be a collaboration - tailored to your specific needs and rooted in psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, mindfulness, or another therapeutic modality. Working together, we can discover where we're going—and the best way to get there.
Today, in order to work through anxiety, depression, addiction, and other problems. We have learned there are simple, effective approaches such as mindfulness meditation and self compassion that have shown us that the quality of our lives and our resiliency depend on how we connect to ourselves. Our suffering comes from the maladaptive ways that we connect to others, along with a misperception that we are “not enough.”
We experience so many toxic emotions based on what we believe others think or feel about us. We put ourselves down, thinking that we are not good enough. We judge others, we seek validation, and we strive to show ourselves to the world as better than average (or worse: perfect). We also run around trying to anticipate and take care of everyone else’s needs, ignoring our own. This formula leaves no room for happiness and instead generates suffering.
After being liberated from a concentration camp, psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote about extensively about suffering. In Man’s Search for Meaning, he explored the idea that suffering was a part of life and we all experience it one way or another. He began to see that if we are mindful and aware of our suffering in any given moment, we can transcend it. Today, we’re beginning to see the wisdom in this idea. It’s much easier to work with our suffering when we are aware of it—and almost impossible to do anything about it when we are mindless.
How we work together
Making a game plan
Thinking outside of the box
Teach self-regulation when monkey mind comes knocking
Promise honesty and authenticity (no BS here)
Hold the space for you
Help you stay anchored
Resources to augment therapy
Offer breathing and meditation techniques
Maintain the utmost respect for your confidentiality
I'll be your biggest advocate/cheerleader as you take your bravery to task
About Me
I've always wanted to be a therapist. As a child my friends tended to gravitate to me if they needed someone to talk to or help them get out of a pickle. After having a positive experience with a school counselor my future was solidified. It was so healing to be able to talk to someone I could trust, without judgment and most of all, feel safe. That year I learned about compassion, resiliency, and gratitude - first hand. I don’t have a job, I have a passion; and I am in awe of the bravery each person brings when they walk through my door.
I received my BA in psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, my Masters from South Texas State University in San Marcos, and my PhD in Clinical Supervision at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. For the last 25 years I've had the good fortune of working in many different paradigms of mental health: inpatient/outpatient, public/private as both clinician and administrator. Since I started my career ongoing research has been the platform for new evidence based approaches to healing, growth, and resiliency.
Dr. Robin Shaw's profile in Psychology Today.