Dr. Cathryn Harris

Having relationships with people in which they can grow and change in the direction of their dreams, especially in ways they did not think were possible. Helping them find the hope and courage to pursue their goals by providing a safe place to confront and overcome the damaging experiences that have kept them stuck.

“Counselling” has been around for centuries as a necessary human activity to help each other navigate the difficulties that life always brings. Our nervous systems are programmed to calm and become more adaptive when we communicate with another caring, mirroring person. That role used to be filled by our close family members, other elders in our extended family systems, or the “wise” people of our communities. In their absence, now we have other ways we can provide that role. Only contemporary social systems have labelled needing counsel as a deficiency of character or strength. Actually, it is a biological mandate for survival!

That “time heals all wounds” or that we can “forget about it and move on”. Actually, the way our brain works, we may not remember something over time (be able to access a memory), but the brain never forgets anything that has ever happened. Negative events that have been detoxified by appropriate caring responses, adequate resolution, and balanced by other positive experiences can be archived appropriately. However, cumulative negative experiences and severely negative events are stored differently in memory and are often locked into the “danger-danger!” nervous system, kept handy to predict further danger. Therefore, they do not exist in the “past” - they are stored in the “present”. Time does not necessarily change this, and these memories are kept active, even if we are not consciously thinking about it. This trauma can therefore result in thoughts, beliefs, emotions, body sensations, and behaviors that are triggered unexpectedly and surprisingly in the present. We end up with unconscious, repetitive responses and unhealthy choices aimed at our “survival” that are based on outdated information. Successful treatment, however, can help the brain process and archive these traumatic experiences. For example, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy can help our brain get unstuck from those automatic physiological and psychological responses that block us from using newer information. This is a simple but powerful procedure we do in the office together to turn on the healing processes that our brain already knows. Change the response to trauma, and we change our lives!