Elise Gressmann-Weaver, LMFT

My approach to any client I work with is to start with where he or she is at when they walk in the door.  It is important to me that my clients feel supported and heard from the beginning, whether he or she has their issues well identified, or everything in life feels overwhelming and confusing. I see therapy as a collaboration between client and therapist.  I offer my clients to bring the needs they can identify to our sessions and my role is to help clarify, define, and discover with them the ways to meet those needs. Additionally, if a client doesn't know how to identify their needs I meet them equally in that struggle in order to work through that process together.

Throughout the therapeutic process and relationship I focus on understanding. As a therapist, I want a client to feel understood, and from there I aim to help them find the most effective ways of making that happen in all areas of his or her life.  That also includes clients understanding themselves better. 

Starting and continuing a therapeutic process is not easy, nor is it pain free. It is my philosophy that the healing comes from the willingness of the client to share despite the fear and pain, and from the therapist's willingness to witness and support a client through it.