Nature of Sober Buddha Counseling Practice
Sober Buddha Counseling provides private individual, couple and family help in a comfortable and relaxing home environment. Clientele consists of educated, affluent working or retired professional adults and artisans who want relief from anxiety, depression, spiritual emergency or obsessive/compulsive disorders. Most want skills to help expand consciousness and overcome self-limiting beliefs and behaviors. Most also request mindfulness meditation training and/or hypnotherapy. Eighty-five percent express dissatisfaction with previous cognitive behavioral therapy experiences. Sober Buddha Counseling also hosts a weekly Vipassana mindfulness meditation sangha (group) to foster deepening of the meditative experience.
Theoretical Approaches
Sober Buddha Counseling uses alternative treatment methods in response to client demand and intellectual/spiritual curiosity.
Archetypal Psychology
Buddhist Psychotherapy
Clinical Hypnotherapy
Existential / Gestalt
Jungian Analysis
Logotherapy
Active Imagination
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Vipassana Mindfulness Meditation
Neuroscience of Addiction
Spiritual Humanism
Self-Compassion / Lovingkindness
Bibliotherapy
Affinity Social Activities
Methods and Techniques
Archetypal psychology helps patients identify and manage primal energies resident in the human psyche to produce more adaptive thoughts, feelings and behaviors.
Bibliotherapy directs clients to in-depth educational resources, which amplify their understanding of the whole therapeutic process.
Buddhist psychotherapy breaks down ego-driven thinking and behavior and opens clients to experiences of compassion-based decision-making and lifestyle.
Spiritual Humanism acknowledges the validity and potential healing value of all transpersonal and non-clinical patient experiences of the alternative kind. These can include kundalini body sensations, Near-Death Experiences (NDEs), Out-of-Body Experiences (OOBs), shamanic journeys, mystical visions, angelic visitations and many more are treated as possible emergence of evolutionary spiritual growth rather than psychopathology.
Clinical hypnotherapy uses Ericksonian story-telling metaphors introduced during hypnotic trance to write positive messages on the software of the unconscious mind. Positive messages replace self-habituated and maladaptive thinking and behavior. Fears, phobias, smoking, PTSD, sleep problems, obsessive-compulsive disorders, sports and work performance and eating disorders can be treated effectively.
Existential and Gestalt therapy allows clients to fully experience their current moment feelings about challenging circumstances, without ego-based defense mechanisms. Seeing their reality clearly, they can then make healthier decisions about how to response to their environment.
Jungian Analysis walks clients through Jung’s famous map of the psyche and shows them the functioning elements of the unconscious mind, which can then be used as conscious tools to solve life problems, regulate mood and eliminate blind complexes. This work gives clients access to the soulful nature of the human psyche.
Logotherapy and its paradoxical intention exercises developed by Dr. Viktor Frankl empower clients to overcome apathy, intimidation and procrastination. They summon up their inherent will-to-meaning so that even the most difficult circumstances can be overcome with positive attitudes and actions.
Vipassana Mindfulness Meditation as taught at Sober Buddha Counseling follows the tradition of the Mahasi Sayadaw lineage to calm the nervous system and improve mental clarity and alertness. Medical science has revealed the neurological benefits of Vipassana for treatment of mood disorders and management of pain and anxiety. The spiritual awakenings that can occur through consistent practice of Vipassana are of a non-clinical nature, but are no less relevant.
Neuroscience of Addiction explains how chemicals cause irresistible and illogical cravings, which cause people to think and act harmfully.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize the feelings that influence how we perceive others and ourselves. High levels of emotional intelligence generate understanding, patience and cooperation in human relationships and are often considered more important than your Intelligence Quotient (IQ) in daily life.
Compassion and Lovingkindness practices include forms of prayer, meditation and altruistic behavior that diminish selfish motivations and inspire generous and healthy human interaction. They always begin with development of compassion for the self, which strengthens the individual’s ability to understand how all people share basically the same struggles and strengths despite life circumstances.
Active Imagination is a Jungian journaling technique allowing you solve problems by dialoguing with your unconscious mind. Starting with a question, you allow your imagination to run free as both your conscious and unconscious minds brainstorm for solutions.
Affinity Social Activities provide opportunities to break social phobias, encourage development of new friendships and build self-esteem through group participation in hobbies, volunteerism and recreation or sports. The counselor may personally introduce you to other members of these groups to begin the socialization process.
Populations
Sober Buddha Counseling serves adults aged 18 and above. Children as young as eight years old can be treated with a specific SleepTalk technique taught by this staff and applied in-home by parents. Persons seeking tools for recovery from substance abuse or chemical dependency must be at least 30 days sober. Since 2003, Sober Buddha Counseling has worked with clients from eight years old to a top age of 95. The techniques used tap into basic human desires for wholeness and happiness that do not require a specific level of education or intellectual sophistication.
Assessment Tools
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV TR) diagnoses are not considered essential to this humanistic and soul-oriented practice. The Emergent Diagnosis and Client Intake psychosocial background forms collect relevant details and evaluate clients’ level of open-mindedness and willingness to explore transpersonal therapies. Extensive information on previous therapeutic work is requested. The Client Interest form offers a “check-off” menu of therapeutic options.
Sober Buddha Counseling does consult with state licensed therapy professionals if client requests and signs a release, but is not governed by the Board of Behavioral Sciences of the California State Department of Consumer Affairs, the American Association of Analytical Psychology or the American Psychological Association. However, Sober Buddha Counseling does adhere to the ethical standards of the Buddhist 8-Fold Path, a morally nonviolent cognitive and behavioral platform.
About Michael Hoffman
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