My Practice | Jung At Heart

Jungian Psychotherapy

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 12:15:37 -0400

Have you been considering finding a psychotherapist? I am accepting new patients for:

. Short or Long Term Psychotherapy

. Flexible Scheduling

. Sliding Scale

. Jungian DepthTherapy

. Dream and Imaginal Work

. Personal Growth Work

. By telephone, Skype or face-to-face

"The most intense conflicts, if overcome, leave behind a sense of security and calm that is not easily disturbed." Carl Jung

It is never too late to grow. Psychotherapy that can help us change a life is as much for the person in her 60's or 70's as it is for those in their 30's and 40's.

I am fascinated by stories. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and our lives. The stories we tell others to shape how they see and know us. In Jungian psychotherapy, together we listen to your stories and find the places where some element in the story, perhaps an old belief about yourself, keeps you from the life you want. Over time, the story changes so that the story you tell about yourself at the end, while still recognizably yours, is different from the story you told at the beginning, a revised version that you will continue to live into old age.

There are no magic tricks or tools in this kind of therapy. It works when you and I develop a good working relationship with each other. Your task is to show up at the appointed time and say what you want as honestly as you can. Tell me your dreams. Your feelings. Your wishes. Your hopes. Your sorrows. My task is to listen, listen as deeply as I can, and offer you my feelings, ideas, intuitions that come in response to your stories.

The goal of Jungian psychotherapy is to enable you to live a life that most fully expresses your own nature. Each of us has a unique self which is trying to unfold. When that unfolding is blocked we may become anxious, or depressed or angry and we may have trouble in our relationships. You and I together develop a caring dialogue which will help you first to understand where you are blocked and then to overcome your blocks. Through our work, you can expect to feel happier and more fulfilled in your relationships, in your job and in your creative life.

"If attention is directed to the unconscious, the unconscious will yield up its contents, and these in turn will fructify the conscious like a fountain of living water. For consciousness is just as arid as the unconscious if the two halves of our psychic life are separated." Carl Jung

Depth psychotherapy is usually not brief therapy. It takes time to explore the complexities of feeling and experience that make up a person's own unique past, as well as present manifestations of that past. People who enter Jungian psychotherapy make an important personal commitment.

Jungian psychotherapy is not only for those with diagnosable psychological problems, like depression or anxiety. It is also valuable for personal growth. Through Jungian psychotherapy you may in discover a more authentic and personally meaningful way of living your life. Using Jungian psychotherapy for personal growth also uses dreamwork as a core ingredient in moving toward psychological maturity.

Although in most respects working face to face is desirable, when distance or other circumstances make that difficult or impossible, then working by telephone is a very workable alternative.

I currently have openings for prospective patients who wish to work by telephone or face-to-face -- we can schedule your first session within a week. If you have any questions or would like to know more about my practice or me, please use the contact form on the left to email me. I will call you if you provide a phone number or reply via email as you wish. Or you may call me:

+1 (207) 956-0299 Eastern Standard Time (Greenwich Mean Time -5 hours)

Click here for information about fees.

Man's task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious. – C.G. Jung

Policies & Guidelines

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 19:09:36 -0400

Following is an overview of policies and procedures regarding appointments, fees, cancellations, etc.

1. Cheryl Fuller, Ph.D. is a Jungian psychotherapist specializing in individual psychotherapy. Customarily once an agreement to work together has been made, patients make a commitment which may last from a few months to several years.

2. I do not offer emergency care, crisis intervention, court-mandated therapy, or case management services. I am available via email or telephone to established patients.

3. Full payment is expected for missed sessions and for sessions cancelled on short notice. This is a practical measure as patients contract for an available time slot which remains theirs until they leave therapy.

4. Fees are payable via PayPal. or by check at the time of the session. For those electing to work via telephone, a Paypal invoice is sent after each session or patients may elect to pay each month for the full month.

5. Patients electing to work via telephone will pay any long distance charges assessed by their carrier. Contact via Skype or FaceTime is available.

6. Patients may email Cheryl between sessions. Limitations on use of email will be discussed as needed.

Social Media Policy

The proliferation of social media creates new issues for therapists and psychotherapy patients. Following is an outline of my policies related to use of social media.

° Friending

I do not accept friend requests from current or former patients. This holds true on Facebook and LinkedIn. I feel that adding clients as friends on these websites blurs the boundaries of our therapeutic relationship. If you have questions about this, please feel free to bring them up when we meet and I’m happy to talk more about it.

I make an exception with Google+ where I have a circle for current and former patients and others who connect with me in a professional context. In this way I can share news of my work related activities, information about books of interest and other things similar to what I discuss here.

° Twitter

I do not follow current or former clients on blogs or Twitter. If there are things you wish to share with me from your online life, I strongly encourage you to bring them into our sessions where we can process them together, during the therapy hour.

° Interacting via social media sites

Please do not use messaging on websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to contact me. If you need to contact me between sessions, the best way to do so is by phone or direct email.

° Use of Search Engines

It is NOT a regular part of my practice to search for clients on Google or other search engines.

° Email

If you choose to communicate with me by email, please be aware that all emails are retained in the logs of your and my Internet service providers. While it is unlikely that someone will be looking at these logs, they are, in theory, available to be read by the system administrator(s) of the Internet service provider.

Thanks to Dr. Keely Kolmes for her permission to modify her form. Updated 9/5/2011

Fees

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 11:46:17 -0400

Are you concerned about whether or not you can afford therapy?

I understand this concern, especially in these times. Many of my previous patients have felt the same way. Those that have made the decision to invest in themselves, however, have found that their lives have improved immensely.

Therapy is not magic. It isn't quick. It is work. It does work.

50 minutes Individual Psychotherapy -- $110.00; 90 minute sessions -- $155.00 In general, I make every effort to assure that cost is not a barrier to our work. Don't be hesitant to discuss what will work for you.

I do not accept third party payment/health insurance. This allows me to have a sliding scale for fees according to your circumstances and ability to pay. Once we decide to work together, we will settle on a fee which we will negotiate together.

More research on Long Distance Therapy

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:24:02 -0400

For a number of years now I have worked with a fair portion of my patients by telephone. At first when it was suggested to me as a way to continue my practice when I moved, I was skeptical but now, seven years later, I find that therapy by telephone not only works, in some cases it works better than face to face meetings. So I was not surprised to see this recently appear in the NY Times:

A new analysis of phone therapy research by Northwestern University shows that when patients receive psychotherapy for depression over the phone, more than 90 percent continue with it. The research showed that the average attrition rate in the telephone therapy was only 7.6 percent, compared to nearly 50 percent in face-to-face therapy. The researchers also found that telephone therapy was just as effective at reducing depressive symptoms as face-to-face treatment.

The therapeutic space which develops when the work is done by telephone differs from that when therapist and patient sit face to face, but it is therapeutic space nonetheless. When my patients call. I am sitting in my customary place, just as if they were sitting in front of me in my office. And I suggest that my patient similarly be in the same place each time. We then create the space between us -- the sound of our voices and the time creating a temenos between us. Therapy works because it is contained. There is confidntiality, there is a fee, and a set time. Our work together is contained in this virtual space, just as it would be were we both in my office.

Phone psychotherapy eliminates travel and waiting time, and allows more flexible scheduling. It makes psychotherapy available to patients who are unable to travel, including many of the physically disabled and those whose symptoms, depression or agoraphobia, make them reluctant to leave home and for those whose work takes them away from home frequently. And in a time when gasoline costs are a significant part of household budgets, it saves the expense of driving. It also makes therapy readily available to people living in rural areas with few if any therapists available.