Manda Cook

I am not the expert on your life; you are! I won't tell you what to do; you decide your path! I prioritize helping my client discover the needs and desires that were always with them while also working to heal the pain that is hindering their ability to live the life they want. In sessions with me, you can expect that I will gently challenge negative thoughts and self-talk. I will encourage but never push you to seek out and explore changes that will improve your life. I will also inform your journey with the knowledge of psychology that I have acquired to help you better understand how your mind works and how to appreciate its unique attributes. Together, we will set goals personalized to you. This is your therapy and it is essential that your therapy is working for you.

For a long time, mental distress has been conceptualized exclusively as an illness (be it chronic, like asthma, or temporary, like a cold). Increasingly, the field of psychology is recognizing that mental distress (anxiety, for example) is a natural, if misguided or ultimately unhelpful, attempt to adapt to difficult circumstances, keep us safe, and protect us from further pain. I am excited by new approaches that honor both our minds and bodies as inextricably connected systems and work to alleviate distress by acknowledging what we have been through and helping to compose new patterns of behavior and thinking that replace those distressing adaptations that, at one time, kept us safe. We are complex beings who have learned to survive however possible, but we are not sick, and we are not broken.

Our first session together is an intake which means it's a bit more structured than ongoing therapy. We'll chat about what brings you in for therapy, your day-to-day functioning (e.g., how are you sleeping, how is your appetite?), and your personal health history. We'll also talk about your goals for therapy -- what you are hoping achieve -- to make sure we are on the same page.