Welcome to
Hazel Valley Therapy
Find the Curiosity and Courage Within
A therapeutic practice in North Carolina with compassion
Using Internal Family Systems (IFS), we take a non-judgemental approach to helping you discover your inner creative, compassionate Self and realize your full potential. IFS focuses on compassion and incorporates a foundational belief that your internal protective system always has your best interest at heart. This core belief allows IFS to assert that there are “No Bad Parts!”
We believe that your behaviors are justified and that as we work to increase safety and security in your internal system, you will experience relief from the symptoms that are hurting your mental health.
Credentials
IFS Training Level 1
Master of Social Work, Western Carolina University, 2023
Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate (LCSWA)
Our Services
Our therapeutic practice uses Internal Family Systems (IFS) to help with various problems but does not label or judge. Instead, we approach the different parts of our suffering and find a way to free those pieces of us. Our philosophy is that every defense mechanism you use was well earned through difficult or traumatic experiences. We will work to restore safety and secure attachment so you can authentically express your true Self.
Anger Management
If you find it challenging to keep your anger in check, our practice can help you identify and express the compassionate parts of yourself. Through a lens of curiosity, not control, we will discover why you're working so hard to protect yourself. We will work to restore trust in your system so that you can operate from a place of calm and compassion.
Depression
Depression is among the most powerful of protectors. It works hard to protect you from the outside world by slowing things down inside. Through unprejudiced introspection, you will learn what your protective system is working hard to avoid. We can use the principles taught in IFS to help you find more calm and creativity in your everyday.
Individual Therapy
We can help individuals connect with their inner clarity and discover the parts of themselves they never knew might need some love. Even if you're not struggling with the issues listed above and don't warrant a diagnosis (we'd skip diagnoses entirely if the US Medical System allowed it), you can still enjoy better access to Self-energy through Individual IFS Therapy. Whatever you're facing, IFS can help.
Anxiety
You've earned your anxiety from what you've experienced in life. How would it feel to let go of some of those worries and trust that you can handle it? Through non-judgmental curiosity, you will learn why you react the way you do and reassure those wonderful but anxious parts of you that you've got this. You've survived everything you've been through so far, after all.
Trauma
At Hazel Valley, both your strengths and imperfections are welcome and accepted. Dealing with trauma requires courage and compassion, both strengths your undamaged Self holds. We will work to understand your protective parts' fears and to slowly unburden your wounded exiles by allowing them more access to your undamaged Self.
Couples Therapy
For our couples sessions, we'll work together and use Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) to help you both understand why you react strongly to each other. Maybe one of you tends to pull away while the other gets agitated or pursues. Perhaps you feel like one of you just doesn't get the other. EFT for couples can help you name the cycle and understand how to reach out and hold on to your loved one.
How It Works
We'll help you identify your different parts and understand how you can unleash your inner creativity, curiosity, and compassion. Ideally, we will start seeing each other weekly, but sessions may become less frequent if your system needs more time to digest before it continues working. It just depends on you and your personal needs. That's why the discovery call will be a momentous step.
Step 1:
Discovery Call
Our journey will begin with a quick 15-minute discovery call. During our conversation, we'll discuss anything you want and hone in on why you are interested in therapy. Additionally, we'll ask you a few questions about your history and work out the best plan from there. There is no commitment, just a friendly chat with your neighborhood therapist.
Step 2:
Our First Session
Once we've developed a plan, we'll set up the first session. If you're coming in for couples therapy, this will be an 80-minute sit-down discussion. If you're starting an individual service, it will be 50 minutes. In each session, we will have an intimate conversation about your motivations and try to come to a holistic understanding of your goals for therapy.
Step 3:
Open Up Possibility
Therapy is a collaborative process seeking to uncover your innate healing intelligence. Often, we are still determining where we'll end up, but that's part of what makes IFS so distinctive. This process is about discovery, and it's done together. We will help you uncover new parts of yourself that will allow you to move forward in healing.
Our Story
It can feel frustrating to be guaranteed a result from therapy that ultimately falls short, even after weeks of work. While we cannot guarantee any particular result, our experience led us to Internal Family Systems and Emotionally Focused Therapy as modalities that just made sense. Years of stagnated progress started to turn in positive directions. The best part- there was no therapy homework unless you consider checking in with yourself throughout the week homework. Our practice was founded on the principles that guide IFS because we wholeheartedly believe that there are no bad parts, and we don't use labels. After a lifetime of trying therapies, IFS was one that finally worked.
The discoveries you make about your internal system can last a lifetime, and they can shift the way you experience yourself and the world. That's something we realized early on and why we wanted to share it with others. It works, and it's had incredible success. So, if you're interested, feel free to get in touch. Our doors are always open.
Address
146 N Main St, Suite 203
Rutherfordton, NC 28139