Eric Hertz (He/Him)

My Approach to Helping

When we create our lives guided by unconscious programs of fear, control, resentment, and self-hatred picked up from childhood and cultural conditioning, we do not create the lives of beauty and clarity that we really long for. But how do we understand and unravel these deep-seated patterns? Addressing this question is my life’s passion, and is not easy to summarize. But the fundamental virtue that I base my therapeutic work on is Curiosity. If we are truly curious about what is appearing for us in the present moment (in the body, emotions, and thoughts) and invite subtlety and intelligence into this curiosity, I have found that the answers we are looking for want to reveal themselves to us. Therapy is the place we can cultivate this attentive curiosity that heals and reveals. My main approach is parts-work. I use both IFS and Voice Dialogue, which allow us to directly contact, understand, and integrate the many inner "parts" of our psyche in a somatic, mindful, and creative way.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

I chose to pursue psychotherapy after spending two years training full-time at a Zen monastery and sitting over one year total in silent meditation retreats. From this training, I believe present-moment inquiry into the body and emotions is the gateway to true healing. I am astounded again and again by the transformations that can happen when this kind of curious awareness is practiced in the therapeutic container. I use the ancient Greek translation of psycho-therapy as “Care of the Soul”. To care for a soul involves addressing psychological symptoms but goes beyond this. Soulcare involves storytelling, myth, Dreamwork, and imagination. It consists in using all the grit of life to fashion one's authentic self as a work of art. As a writer, writing teacher, and musician, I believe we're always acting as creators in our lives and have the potential to do so consciously rather than unconsciously. Theoretical influences include: Gestalt, Somatic, Transpersonal, & Psychodynamic Therapy.