Spencer Dawson

In working together, I prioritize our relationship and provide a space to feel safe, unconditionally accepted and heard. My approach draws from somatic attachment, attachment theory and eye-movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR). Intertwined throughout my use of all of these approaches is a body-centered, somatic approach.

Sometimes, when we think about starting therapy, it's because we can no longer tolerate how we are feeling. This includes our mind and body (e.g, racing thoughts, pit in stomach). In my work, I want my clients to notice a difference in how both their mind and body is feeling. Our mind and body work together, so they both need to be prioritized in therapy for lasting change.

Our past experiences impact us in ways we may not even realize. Our nervous system jumps in to protect us in ways that it has helped us survive in the past. This often prevents us from operating how we wish. Working to reconnect the body with the mind to our present, adult self can help resolve this disconnection. I believe that we all deserve to experience connection, empathy, attunement and safety.

I believe that change occurs through relational healing. I believe that has been broken in relationship, must be healed through relationships, which is why I prioritize creating a safe space. By creating a safe place, we can work to undo feelings of aloneness, develop secure attachments, process traumatic experiences and explore intolerable feelings that together can then become tolerable. 

My belief is that the difficulties we experience stem from a few different places. I see "symptoms" as adaptations that we use to survive in our environment. Not getting our needs met as children (as well as any other attachment wounds that occur throughout our life) often has a significant impact on us. I understand that we all carry self-limiting beliefs that impede our ability to thrive. Working to process these early experiences can help in feeling less stuck and have a deeper sense of peace, happiness, stability and vitality.