About Martha
Counseling for Individuals and Couples
Call 919-485-9738 or Email Martha in Durham, NC
With nearly 30 years of experience, I continue to feel privileged to help individuals, couples and families. After over 25 years as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, I chose to retire my license. I have a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy from Virginia Tech. I add to and update my skills on an ongoing basis and love learning. I draw from: relationship skills‚ mind-body techniques, family systems‚ solution-oriented therapies‚ narrative techniques‚ play therapy‚ clinical hypnosis‚ ethics‚ structural/strategic therapies, Hakomi, Inner Relationship Focusing, attachment therapy, relational neurobiology and Somatic Experiencing. As a senior and experienced counselor, I uniquely blend the knowledge from my training to custom fit your needs.
Introduction and Welcome from Martha, Therapist & Life Coach
I was introduced to mindfulness in a training over 15 years ago and became enamored. I have taken many additional trainings over the years using applied mindfulness. It has slowly changed my life and relationships. I see how much it helps others and their relationships. I continue to practice mindfulness because when I do, I feel better and relate to the world from a more settled place.
Hakomi, Inner Relationship Focusing, Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience and Somatic Experiencing are all mind-body techniques using applied mindfulness, exploratory attention and somatic inquiry. Research, more and more is showing the many benefits of mindfulness. It is very gentle and can be life changing. With Hakomi, I act as your guide using mindfulness in the journey for self-discovery and emotional healing. This journey can reveal and transform the underlying beliefs and habits affecting how you experience life. It is effective for stress, worry, tension, burnout, feeling down, relationship issues and other life challenges. I have completed the 2 year Hakomi training and Master Class. For additional information see Applied Mindfulness the Hakomi Way.
Inner Relationship Focusing is another gentle and respectful way to discover more about your whole self. You learn a way to sense into your whole being and listen for the wisdom and inner-knowing that we all have about ourselves. With inner exploration, you develop a felt-sense of situations and issues to help guide your choices and life path. It is helpful when feeling stuck, overwhelmed, stressed and out of balance. For additional information see Focusing Resources. I have completed training through level 4 and continue to participate in workshops and advanced skill practice.
I have completed 2 years of Somatic Experiencing (SE) training. For more information about this, see Trauma Healing and About Trauma Healing. See my blog, from an SE perspective . Somatic Experiencing helps to relieve chronic stress and resolve symptoms of trauma from events such as invasive medical procedures, emotional abuse or assault. This is a supportive process that resets the nervous system to establish more inner balance, restoring our innate capacity to rebound from overwhelming experiences. We can then live with more resiliency and ease.
Exploring early attachment adaptations provides new insights and understanding into our adult relationships. This leads to stronger and more secure attachments in our lives today. I have training in Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning experience (DARe) which is a somatic approach to enriching adult relationships.
Hypnosis is another tool I use to build your inner resources. It is a state of focused attention when suggestions that are compatible with your ideas are likely to have a more powerful impact on your well-being. It is helpful to enhance relaxation, change physiological states, change habits, increase comfort and manage pain. For more information see: American Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
(If we go back far enough, I also have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, registration as a medical technologist and a master’s degree in health services administration. I have worked in a variety of settings with a variety of people. I welcome diversity)
The basic work of health professionals in general and psychotherapists in particular is to become full human beings and to inspire full human beingness in other people who feel starved about their lives. – Chogyam Trungpa
My Profiles