Aletha Eastwood (she/her)

My Approach to Helping

I have been a Certified Hakomi Practitioner since 2013. I invite you into a place of curiosity and nonjudgment about your experience. Using mindfulness and experiential approaches drawn from attachment theory, Hakomi, AEDP, EFT, and interpersonal neurobiology, we can identify and untangle old patterns of behavior and process unhelpful beliefs and old or ongoing wounding or trauma. These old patterns and beliefs are based in our experiences of the world, often from our earliest experiences in childhood or through trauma. Over time, they continue to function and can create a barrier to living a more satisfying life. In our work together, I offer a safe space to explore and heal patterns that are no longer working for you and to help you uncover and move in alignment with your authentic self. Our relationship becomes a foundation for exploration, acceptance, and growth from which you learn new ways to create greater fulfillment and connection with yourself, others, and your world.

My Values as a Therapist

I see therapy as a relational process. Hakomi is a practice of active, deep listening that invites you, as the client, to experience your own inherent wisdom. With my presence and guidance, I help you to anchor into this wisdom. Holding an attachment-based lens and recognizing how trauma disrupts our natural attachment system, I adjust and attune when difficult feelings, thoughts, and experiences arise. I help you to find your deeper connection to yourself once again. From Hakomi and my Buddhist meditation practice and studies, I believe that even the parts of ourselves we would rather get rid of have wisdom. No part of our experience is without wisdom. It is in the listening that we discover what is needing to be heard. In my work with couples, I draw on Nonviolent Communication and Emotion Focused Therapy to strengthen communication skills and uncover rutted patterns that have become barriers to intimacy and connection.