Ruth Eslinger

I know how hard it is to learn to talk about difficult things. That made me want to help others learn to do the same. I started by volunteering at rape crisis and domestic violence shelters. When I was at these places I did outreach in the community and ran support groups for both. For a time, I took rape crisis hospital calls to support people who had come in for sexual assault exams. This work that taught me to be comfortable talking about anything, at any time, with anyone. I have worked with all types of individuals from ages 12 and up. My first Masters was an intensive dive into Human Rights. My second Masters was in Counseling so I could work with individuals to help them beyond the crisis moments. My passion is to help people progress towards healing.

My approach to therapy is to help my clients feel comfortable and know they have ownership over things in our sessions. Even though most of us come to counseling to work on things that aren't necessarily going right in our lives, that doesn't mean we don't acknowledge the strengths you already have whether you have confidence in them or not. In our sessions, I am going to point out the growth I see in you, and also moments that are positive. While life can be very serious, that doesn't mean there isn't room for humor. The short answer to "do we have to talk about everything from my past?" is no. We can always go into depth about things from the past, but sometimes we may only need to have a general idea of what happened in the past. The reason for that is usually so we know where to go and what skills to work on.

During our first therapy session, I honestly like to start out with simple conversation. That will include what to expect if it is your first time in counseling, some goals, or how your week has been unless you want to get right into something. If not, I may ask questions that though plain, often help us find a direction. My hope is that we just get comfortable talking to see if we will work well together. As we start talking about the big things, if you aren't quite ready to talk about things, we can skip them. We can talk about them if and when you're ready. I also let all my clients know that since I ask them so many questions that they can ask me anything and I will do my best to answer them.