Anne Rossen, MA, LCPC

I’m an integrative mental-health practitioner. That means I approach our work together in a whole-person-centered way. A whole-person-centered approach to therapy involves exploring the many domains of your experience—mind, body, emotions, relationships, and spirit—for purposes of symptom relief as well as growth and development. I strive not only to understand and alleviate your distress, but also to help you uncover your strengths, build your resilience, and deepen your engagement with life, to the degree that you, too, are interested in doing so.

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates referred to “the natural healing force within each one of us.” Twentieth-century psychologist Carl Rogers wrote of the actualizing tendency, a wired-in inclination toward constructive growth and change that’s present in every individual. Modern-day neuroscience contends that the human brain is plastic, able to change and develop throughout life in response to experience. I believe in these concepts, and I see my job as providing a relational environment capable of catalyzing your healing process and facilitating your growth as a person.

As you might imagine, this is not a cookie-cutter approach to therapy. It is highly personalized, involving, on my end:

• Open, careful listening to what you are saying,
• Genuine appreciation of your unique experience, and
• A special sensitivity to when to step in and when to get out of the way and let your own inner wisdom unfold.

It also entails, on my end, knowledge of the many different schools of therapy—psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, systems-based, emotionally focused, mindfulness-based, and more—and the versatility to work with each of them as our work together demands. Different people respond differently to different “interventions” at different times, because each of us possesses a unique combination of ever-evolving characteristics and needs.

Another aspect of my approach as a therapist—perhaps the most important aspect of all—is awareness of my own humanity—knowing that I’m a person, too, with her own challenges, struggles, vulnerabilities, and developmental processes. More than anything else it’s this recognition that allows me to meet you where you’re at—openly, kindly. I believe as twentieth-century psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Harry Stack Sullivan did, that “we are all more simply human than otherwise.”

I invite you to keep reading, or contact me to learn more.

If you could do one thing to protect your health and happiness now and into the future, what would it be? Research tells us: invest in the quality of your close relationships. Their impact on our mental and emotional well-being, our physical health, and our longevity is so great that the American Psychological Association has called for making close relationships a public health priority. More recently the U.S. Surgeon General has highlighted the devastating consequences of our epidemic of loneliness and isolation on our collective health and well-being—as well as the medicine for that: social connection.

With such high stakes, who wouldn’t want to consider the state of their most precious relationships and work to make them better? In our intimate partnerships and our families we can shift from painful patterns of criticism and “stonewalling” to handling conflicts in relationship-fostering ways. We can learn how to stop emotional isolation before it happens and deliberately shape the quality of our bonds with our loved ones.

I help couples and families do this through Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which is grounded in the science of attachment. One of the most empirically validated therapies for changing distressed relationships, Emotionally Focused Therapy is also the type of relationship therapy that fits best with my own integrative, humanistic approach to counseling.

Sometimes, however, couples are so divided they’re unsure whether their marriage can go on. One partner may want to repair and preserve the marriage while the other is leaning toward divorce. In some cases both partners are ready to call it quits, or the divorce process has already been initiated—but then, second thoughts arise. For such couples I offer a short-term course (one to five sessions) of Discernment Counseling to help them gain a better understanding of what’s happened to their relationship and to determine, with clarity and confidence, their best next steps.

If you’re interested in couple therapy or family therapy, please contact me to learn more.

If you’ve ever felt alarmed or soothed by the sound of your loved one’s voice, uplifted from a walk on the beach, shaky before giving a presentation, or sick with a cold after long days of too much work and too little sleep, you’ve experienced what’s known as the mind-body connection. There’s a lot more to it than these examples might convey, but they point to the fact that powerful interactions regularly take place within us, between us, and between us and our environment—and we’re not strangers to these happenings, at least from the standpoint of feeling their effects.

But a growing database of scientific research indicates that with the help of deliberate practices that promote relaxation, self-awareness, and self-expression, we can harness the power of the mind-body connection to feel more in charge of our experience. We can transform stress, ease pain, improve concentration, build resilience, and live life with a greater sense of self-efficacy and purpose. Examples of such practices, known as mind-body skills, include meditation, breath work, imagery, movement, expressive writing, and more.

Mind-body skills are self-care skills, and they can be learned. At this point in time, with all the evidence supporting their effectiveness, not only are they part and parcel of integrative psychotherapy practices like my own, they also are being taught in a wide variety of healthcare settings. Self-care, simply, is fundamental to good health.

If you’re interested in learning more about mind-body practices for yourself or your organization, please contact me. I’m certified to provide Interactive Guided Imagery™ (best suited for individuals) and to facilitate Mind-Body Skills groups, based on the model pioneered by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine.

Feel free to read more about me, or if you’re ready, just reach out.