How I work
Therapy for self-esteem
The voice that got installed early and never left.
Where the voice comes from
The way you speak to yourself was learned somewhere. For many people it began early, in relationships or situations where being hard on yourself felt necessary, or even protective. Over time it stops sounding like something you picked up and starts sounding simply like the truth about you.
That is part of why encouragement from other people so often slides off. It isn’t that you doubt them. It is that the belief was formed long before any of the evidence arrived, and it was never really made of evidence in the first place.
How we might work
Rather than arguing with the critical voice, it is usually more useful to get curious about it: when it started, whose it originally was, and what it thinks it is protecting you from. It almost always thinks it is helping.
Internal Family Systems suits this well, and so does Brainspotting when the belief is anchored to specific memories rather than to reasoning.
A note on perfectionism
Perfectionism and low self-worth usually travel together, and perfectionism is the one people are more willing to admit to, because it sounds like a strength in a job interview. If that is what brought you here, it counts.
Get started
Curious about whether we could be a good fit?
Schedule a free 15 minute consultation. No pressure, and no need to explain everything up front.
Prefer to write? Email sunflowerstridescounseling@gmail.com. I reply within two business days.
Also
Other ways I work
-
Trauma and PTSD
Old wounds that still shape how today feels.
-
Anxiety
A nervous system that won’t stand down.
-
Depression
When everything takes more than it should.
-
Life transitions
Divorce, loss, a career ending, becoming a parent.
-
Stress and burnout
Running on empty long enough that empty feels normal.
-
Brainspotting
A gentle, body-based way of processing what talking alone hasn’t reached.
-
EMDR
A structured approach to reprocessing traumatic memory.
-
Internal Family Systems
Getting curious about the conflicting sides of yourself instead of being at war with them.
-
Walk & talk therapy
Sessions outdoors, walking side by side rather than sitting across a desk.
-
Online therapy
Anywhere in Wisconsin, from a place you already feel safe.