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APPROACH TO THERAPY
Most
people come into therapy when something has gone wrong in their
lives. A tragic loss, divorce, or an unexpected turn of events can
trigger feelings of sadness, anger, anxiety, or the inability to
feel anything beyond a numb emptiness. This can lead to harmful
behaviors such as eating disorders, depression, alcoholism, working too much,
playing too little.
In
families everyone is affected by crisis or change, often creating
new behaviors and roles, such as a teenager who becomes the
“parenting child” following a divorce. Many couples
experience disappointment when they discover the man or woman of
their dreams is very human, with the same flaws they disliked in
their own parents.
My job as psychotherapist is to
listen deeply to your story and serve as your navigator on a journey
to discover new things about yourself, your partner, or your
family. This can invite new emotions, such as hope, and joy within
yourself and the people in your life.
BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE
For the past fifteen years I have
worked in private practice, in community mental health agencies, and
as a supervisor of other clinicians. I have extensive experience
leading workshops and groups (see Workshop offerings). I completed
my Bachelor’s Degree, then my Masters in Psychology at Antioch
University Seattle in 1991, and have been a licensed mental health
counselor in Washington State since 1994. I completed a 2-year professional seminar
at the North Pacific Institute of Analytical Psychology, for therapists who
use Jungian psychology in their work, and I currently attend ongoing workshops
in Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy.
THERAPEUTIC ORIENTATION
In order to help me understand the
depth of my clients’ concerns, I study theories about why we do what
we do, and how our behaviors affect others. This includes ideas
about how human beings grow and develop from infancy throughout
adulthood, and what happens when families and couples have
conflicts. I also explore how individuals develop an inner identity
that may not be in harmony with how they relate to the world. These
ideas are only as good as the relationship formed with the client,
and the quality of listening and collaboration we engage in.
LIFE COACHING
I believe each of us has a destiny to
discover our true calling, and manifest it with integrity in the
world. This requires integration of all parts of your life:
professional, personal — perhaps balancing your life as a parent and
as an artist — or creating your own business while nurturing your
spirit in a culture where time is precious.
My approach as your coach/tutor is to
help you focus your energies on what you desire most deeply for your
life, and to collaborate with you in defining the steps needed to
get there.
This involves both conscious and
unconscious processes: your “day” dreams, night dreams, explored in
a context that grounds the needs of your mind, body and spirit in
the realities of the world. You may also choose to work with
Active Imagination, a tool using mental images to envision what you
desire.
In addition to my background as a
therapist, I have many years experience as a teacher, workshop
leader, and writer. I have a fascination with the creative process
and how it can be “called forth” to bring new energy, new
possibilities, and productive reality into being.
THE SECOND HALF OF
LIFE
Baby Boomers are redefining the
meaning of “Mid-Life Crisis” to mean “Mid-Life Revolution!’ Not the
one we imagined in the 60’s, but a time of profound change, calling
us to look at how we define ourselves, and view our abilities and
limitations.
I have a particular interest in
working with people at this stage of life, who may be suffering from
depression, anxiety, a sense of panic, upheaval, or lack of purpose
— people who are longing to make different choices in the next
decades of their life.
While there is a loss to be mourned —
we may not be able to climb a mountain, dance on toe shoes, or down-hill ski as we did in our youth
— we can emerge from this “crisis”
with a much deeper sense of who we are and what is possible. Our
lives can be shaped from a sense of inner direction, lessening our
dependence on the praise or censure of others. This can open new
ground emotionally, professionally, in our relationships, and in
learning to find meaning and new joy.
CHILDREN IN FAMILIES
While it is often the behavior of the
child that brings families into therapy, this is only the “tip of
the iceberg” in my experience with families.
The configuration of the sessions is
determined by the underlying issues. I sometimes work individually
with children, using sand tray, art, and other imaginative means,
but this is often done in tandem with seeing the parents.
Confidentiality is honored with both parties, unless permission is
given to share. At critical junctures an adolescent, for example,
may ask for a session with one or both parents, siblings, or extended
family.
The goals of treatment are unique to
each family. Some themes we might explore include balancing love and
limits: how parents can use rewards, respect, and nurturing to shape
a child’s behavior and sense of security. And how to get and give
the love and support you need, while nurturing a family atmosphere
that allows everyone to grow and develop as independent,
compassionate people.
GROUPS AND
WORKSHOPS
Writing from Within:
Creating Stories as a Road Map for the Soul
How
do we nurture our creativity and use writing as a tool for enhancing
self-knowledge and personal growth? How can crafting stories filled
with fresh images and conflict help us learn more about our inner
life? What is the relationship between stories and the tools
of analytical psychology, such as active imagination and the
interpretation of dreams?
We will explore these questions in the 4-week course Writing From Within: Creating Stories as a Road Map for the Soul. For two
hours each morning, we will engage in group and individual writing exercises and sharing. Together we will create a nonjudgmental
atmosphere of playfulness, imagination, respect, sharing and inquiry.
Saturdays: February 9, 16, 23, and March 1, 10:00 a.m. to Noon. Good
Shepherd Center 4649 Sunnyside Ave North, Room 221. To register for
class, contact the Seattle Jung Society (206) 547-3956. Cost for the
4-week class: $80 members, $90 non-members. For more information
about the class, go to the Jung Society website at www.jungseattle.org.
®
Visioning Your Life at Mid-Life:
A Workshop for Women
The “mid-life crisis” is a generic
term for a very real, very individual journey. What happens when the
tasks of the “first half of life” are behind us? What were the
dreams our youth? Are they relevant now? If not, what lies ahead?
What old habits of being need to be honored and discarded, for new,
vibrant life to emerge?
The root of the word confidence
means, “fidelity to the self.” How do we meet the identity crisis of
mid life and learn to listen to the wisdom of our deeper self? How
do we step into the integrity of the person we are now called to
become?
Visioning Your Life at Mid-Life
offers a forum to explore these questions, and to bring your own.
Using creative imagination, guided meditation, and sharing, the workshop allows participants to
examine and explore new possibilities for their lives. The
workshop provides a practical “Visionquest” allowing each person to
begin the process of mapping a unique self-directed future.
Offering 5 hours of Continuing Education Credits for
licensed Mental
Health Counselors, Masters and B.A. level.
Facilitators: Jane Johnston, MA, LMHC
is a psychotherapist in private practice with 20 years experience as
a therapist and educator. A focus of her work is the spiritual
development of the individual. Elizabeth Clark Stern MA LMHC is a
psychotherapist in private practice in with 15
years experience as a therapist/educator. She also focuses on the
individuation of the soul in the second half of life. Contact
Elizabeth Clark Stern on line or by phone (206) 720-1500, for
details on the next group or class offering.
Women of all ethnicities and
orientations are welcome.
®
Couples Group 2005
Did you make a New Year’s Resolution
to find a relationship, save the one you’re in, or learn more about
yourself before entering the uncharted waters of intimacy?
Have you wondered why it is often hard to maintain yourself as a
separate person when blending your life with another? Have you ever
caught yourself feeling your partner’s feelings instead of your own?
It is a cliché that all committed
relationships require “compromise,” but is it true? How do we
know when we are negotiating a sensible give-and-take, and when we
are giving away the store?
Join Dr. Bob Miller and Elizabeth
Clark Stern, MA, to explore these ideas, and learn from each other
in a psycho-educational setting. We will incorporate readings and
discussion from James Hollis’s book, THE EDEN PROJECT : IN SEARCH OF
THE MAGICAL OTHER. The author is a Jungian analyst known for his
ability to translate often esoteric-sounding concepts into
practical, usable language. Dr. Miller and Ms Clark Stern are
therapists in private practice who work with couples and families.
Couples and singles of all
orientations are welcome.
Contact
Elizabeth Clark Stern on line or by phone (206) 720-1500, for
details on the next group or class offering.
®
Thin From Within:
A Workshop for Women Who Eat
Too Much
or Think Too Much about Not Eating
Webster’s Dictionary defines nourishment, “To provide with food or
other substances necessary for life and growth; to foster the
development of; to keep alive....”
What
does it mean to nourish ourselves? What could the “other substances”
necessary for life be? Are there ways many of us use food as a
substitute for another kind of nourishment? What does this
mean for women who have created a relationship to food that isn’t
giving the body —or the mind or the soul—what it is really starving
for?
We will
explore our relationship to food, how it has served us for better or
for worse. We will explore ways to nourish our bodies and spirits in
other ways. It is also important to explore the ways food
does nourish our bodies, our senses, our artistic nature, our
imagination, even our family, religious, and cultural heritage.
Join us
in an educational setting to explore some alternative
nourishing. Please wear comfortable clothing and bring a healthy,
fresh, colorful (if possible) and economical (please) dish to share.
If you have a story that accompanies your food selection, these are
most welcome. To this day I can’t smell fresh bread in the grocery
store without thinking of my Southern grandmother’s homemade
biscuits and fig preserves.
Contact
Elizabeth Clark Stern on line or by phone (206) 720-1500, for
details on the next group or class offering.
CLINICAL
CONSULTATION
I am a
licensed mental health counselor with 13 years' experience as a
supervisor of clinicians. I build a collaborative, supportive relationship with
those for whom I consult. I would be
most helpful to licensed therapists with an interest in individual, couple,
and family therapy, using a theoretical base that incorporates
family systems, object relations, cognitive behavioral, and Jungian
perspectives.
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OUT
OF THE SHADOWS
A
Story of Toni Wolff and Emma Jung, a play by Elizabeth Clark
Stern, with Rikki Ricard as Emma Jung (left) and Elizabeth as
Toni Wolff
Photo
by John Stern |
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The
year is 1910. The work of Sigmund Freud, and his heir-apparent,
Carl Jung, are transforming the way the world thinks about
human nature and the inner recesses of the mind. It is a time
of experimentation, expansion, and new frontiers of
intellectual power. Into the heart of this world steps a 22
year old woman, a new patient of the now famous analyst, Carl
Jung. Toni Wolff brings a new voice into this creative vortex
that also includes Jung’s wife, Emma. The three of them form
an unconventional triangle where the women compete for the
role of Jung’s intellectual muse with more passion than they
care about who shares his bed.
Who
were these women to each other? We know that both were
intellectual, independent, self-educated, at a time when Swiss
women did not attend university. They were arguably quite
hungry for another woman to talk to about
ideas.
The
play also explores the nature of Emma’s clandestine
correspondence with Sigmund Freud, the separate relationship
each woman had with C.G. Jung, and how this informed the
women’s connection to each other. The themes of this story
are endemic to our modern world: the nature of power, the
complexity of relationships, oppression, betrayal, corruption,
and redemption. The production features psychoanalyst/actor
Rikki Ricard as Emma Jung, and Elizabeth Clark Stern,
playwright/therapist/actor, as Toni Wolff. Directed by
therapist/artist/director, Shierry Nicholsen.
Out
of the Shadows premiered at the International Jungian
Congress in Cape Town, South Africa in August, 2008. A staged
reading of Nana Sophia's Oasis, Elizabeth Clark Stern's
newest play, will be done on Saturday, April 12, 2008, 8 p.m.
at the COR Northwest Family Development Center 1711 12th Ave
Seattle 98122. $10 at the door.
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