Amanda Peacock, LICSW

How can I feel more connected with who I really am?

It’s easy to feel overcome by the challenges of daily life and forget who we are, or reject some parts of ourselves. Experience can make it hard to find a quiet, calm place inside that feels like home, where there is more acceptance for who we truly are, on every level.

Together we can explore what has been difficult and begin to find that path to greater stillness that resides inside.

We know that change is as constant as breathing, and yet the prospect of leaving what we have known and approaching what we don’t know yet can be very disorienting. Uncertainty, even about positive changes, can provoke feelings of loss, worry, wishes to have more control, and frustration that we don’t.

Working with these feelings in an atmosphere of acceptance and curiosity you may discover new possibilities, including feelings of hope that the changes we feel besieged by in one moment, may in another moment feel tolerable or possibly in some ways welcome.

Does nervousness or anxiety stop you from living the way you would like? Is fear preventing you from being the person you want to be? Does anxiety seem to be keeping you from expressing your wishes, taking important risks and achieving your goals?

Why can’t I shake this nervousness?
How can I stop worrying so much?
What would it be like to feel confident more often?

Together, we can get to know the trepidation that seems to hold you back. In developing a relationship with the fear, we can brave the threat at a pace that feels comfortable. You can move beyond the barriers of anxiety that keep you from your life.

“You can’t remove fear, but you can find balance and freedom in the midst of it.”
Tara Brach

How do I find my old self?
What has happened to my energy?
How do I keep going?
Will this ever end?

We can feel as though we’ve lost our life force when depression settles over us.
While each person’s experience is different, as is their path through the fog, the weight of depression can feel almost paralyzing. It can take all of our energy to recognize a need for help and even more to ask for it.

If you recognize yourself in these words, consider a call. Together we’ll find a path that eases the weight and bends in the direction of light and hope.

“The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality.”
Andrew Solomon

I don’t want to feel this!
How can I make it go away?
Why am I so angry?
or
Why don’t I feel anything at all?

If you’ve been sitting with these same questions, you may be recovering from trauma. Trauma comes in many forms, durations and intensities. Our traumas may leave us with wounds to be soothed, stories to be held and perhaps shared, and lives to be created anew. The path through is as individual as the experiences themselves.

And then one day we notice we’ve begun anew.

Using Internal Family Systems, mindfulness, somatic and attachment-based approaches, we can begin to witness and restore what has been lost or hurt.

“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
Leonard Cohen

Loss can seem almost unbearable if we try to bear it alone – whether it’s loss of a loved one, a job or a phase of life.

You may be wondering how you’ll find your way through the dark place you find yourself in. That place may be where a loved one once was, where your heart felt whole. It may be a place where transitions seem to threaten much of what had seemed stable or permanent.

Can I survive this loss?
When will this sadness end?
Is it normal to feel this way?
Does it have to be this hard?

The wish for things to stay as they were is as natural as life itself. And yet, we’ve not found a way to hold onto everything we hold dear. We’ve simply found that it helps to know we aren’t alone when things are painful. Being in the presence of someone who cares makes pain more bearable. In therapy for loss whether it is loss of a job, a loved one or a treasured circumstance, you’ll learn to bear the sorrow and weather these endings until it begins to feel like spring again.

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”
CS Lewis, A Grief Observed

I never learned how to be a good partner.
If I had a happy relationship, it was sheer luck.
How can I turn this around before it’s too late?
Why didn’t anyone teach us how to have a healthy relationship?
How do I make changes in my relationships?

Relationships can be a catalyst for healing or a crucible for suffering. Much of this depends on what we bring to the meeting of our being with another. Together we can explore your experiences in relationships, work on ways to find more contentment in the ones you have, explore possible paths for your current relationships or look at the process of endings and beginnings with new or existing relationships. We can look at skills for creating healthier connections, enhancing closeness and building mutually satisfying partnerships and friendships, as well as relationships with family members and coworkers.

“For one human being to love another – that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof; the work for which all other work is but preparation.”
Rainer Maria Rilke

What career is the best one for me to be my best?
What do I do to get to the next level in my career?
What can I do to be happier in my job?
How do I achieve the success know I’m capable of?
How do I offer the best of me to the world?

You may want to change careers and wonder where to begin or what to do next. You may have a career that feels stalled or stuck in some way and need support choosing next steps or taking the necessary risks to change direction. You may have a clear career vision and need a behind the scenes partner to help you manifest it.

“We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? …We are all meant to shine.”
Marrianne Williamson

Contentment isn’t a matter with being content with your situation in life and never trying to improve it. It’s a matter of being content with what you have, but realizing that as humans, we will always try to improve, no matter how happy we are. If we don’t, we have given up on life. Using Positive Psychology tools and practices we can help you build a life that taps your potential and uplifts your heart.

“Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.”
John Barrymore

You may be getting curious about or have found yourself seeking moments of awe and healing through non-ordinary realms of consciousness. Humans are wired to seek experiences of awe. We climb mountains; we gaze at sunsets and stars; we marvel at birth in all its forms; we meditate, dance, sing and share love. Our ancestral wise men and women journeyed to mystical realms to bring back wisdom and healing. Again today, people are returning to these practices, seeking inspiration, answers and healings.

Whether you are journeying in other realms using drumming, dance or other trance states including breath work or plant medicines, these practices are sacred and should be undertaken with intention and care. I am happy to support you in planning and setting your intentions and supporting you in integrating your experiences on the other side.

Training:

• Holotropic breath work practices
• MAPS Zendo support training
• MAPS Psychedelic Science webinars
• Shamanic practices (7 years)
• Internal family systems (certified and IFSI approved consultant)
• Meditation (30 years)

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take,
but by the moments that take your breath away.”
Maya Angelou

Do I need coaching or therapy?

You want coaching if you have a goal or skill that you want help to develop or achieve. People choose to hire a coach when they feel stuck trying to create change and it just isn’t happening or happening fast enough. This includes deciding what to change. The change might be in yourself, your relationship, your environment or your life path.

People hire coaches for help with skills like meditation, mindfulness (yes, they’re different!), relationships and happiness.

If you want help with depression, anxiety or trauma, then I suggest you try therapy first. Besides being a better fit for those kinds of issues, your insurance might reimburse you for sessions.

You should choose therapy if you have a diagnosis, or feel you need one, and want your health insurance to reimburse you for the cost of treatment.