INGRID CASWELL, LMFT
Thoughts and Behaviors are Learned.
You Can Unlearn Them.
323-972-2222
INGRID CASWELL, LMFT
PSYCHOTHERAPY & ANGER MANAGEMENT
California BBS License # 86989
A BIT ABOUT THERAPY
Therapy reveals ways of thinking and acting that cost you happiness.
In therapy, you challenge your thinking mistakes - like catastrophizing and minimizing positives - and replace them with thoughts that are moderate, realistic...and helpful.
If you can shift your thoughts, you can shift your mood.
If you can shift your mood, you can shift your behavior.
If you can shift your behavior, you can let go of a relationship keeping you stuck...or hold on to one that's important to you.
MY PHILOSOPHY
My most rewarding work is guiding my clients to let go of destructive habits and develop healthy ones. My philosophy is that a dysfunctional childhood robs us of plenty of years; we lose more time blindly struggling to find our way as adults. We can put our foot down and say, "It stops here. I've lost enough time to addiction, depression, codependency. The rest of my life is mine...." Therapy takes work.
And it's the fundamental tool you'll need to be the architect of the rest of your life.
SERVICES I OFFER
A Happier, Healthier You
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
Because we seek what's familiar, we're lucky if our past experiences were pleasant. But if we experienced neglect or abuse as children, we got the message that we weren't worth protecting. Often this results in low self-esteem and broken antennae that can't see dysfunction in others.
If you struggle with a lack of boundaries and allow others' opinions of you to determine your self-worth, therapy can help you reclaim your lost voice.
Conflict to Calm
COUPLES & FAMILY THERAPY
People with the best chance at successful relationships are those who learn to manage anger and resolve conflicts. In couples and family therapy, we learn to ask for our needs in a way that makes people want to meet them. Couples and family therapy can result in a closer relationship bond, a stronger family connection, and happier parents, children, and siblings.
Here For Them...and You
KIDS & PARENTING
Some of my child and teen clients are struggling to adjust to divorce. Others have been bounced around for other reasons and have developed "survival skills" that threaten their shot at functional adulthood. I reach kids by combining warmth and acceptance with a knack for helping them see that they can be the source of their problems as well as the solution. I guide parents through this process with Mindful Parenting - an approach to caregiving that promotes sensitivity and flexibility in communication. I help parents set boundaries and model the kind of behavior they want for their children. In addition to my professional training and experience, I am the mother of two kids.
Using Anger for Good
ANGER MANAGEMENT
Anger is a complex emotion that many struggle to identify and manage. Although anger is a natural, necessary emotion meant to protect us, if we lack the skills to process it healthily, anger can mutate into aggression or even rage.Anger Management is designed to develop empathy - the ability to relate to how another person is feeling - as well as strategies for expressing anger constructively. It helps you identify your anger triggers and then cope with them. You will discover what contributes to your anger and take the power out of anger-provoking situations.
A Way Out
EMDR FOR TRAUMA
Many people think the word "trauma" is too dramatic to describe what happened in their childhoods. "I'm alive, aren't I?" they say. "It couldn't have been that bad." The fact is, you did survive. But you did it by going into denial, rationalizing, or even dissociating. Trauma can be physical, sexual, emotional, intellectual, or spiritual. These experiences can create a range of problems, from codependency to posttraumatic stress disorder, many of which can be relieved with Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). How Does EMDR Work? Bad experiences can have a lasting negative effect that interferes with the way a person sees the world and relates to people.
"Following a successful EMDR session, you no longer relive the images, sounds, and feelings when the event is brought to mind. You still remember what happened, but it's much less upsetting. EMDR appears to be similar to what occurs naturally during dreaming or REM sleep. Therefore, EMDR can be thought of as a physiologically based therapy that helps you see disturbing material in a new and less distressing way."-EMDR International Association
WORK & EDUCATION
LICENSED MARRIAGE & FAMILY THERAPIST
Treating individuals, couples and families with a focus on childhood trauma, codependency, anxiety and depression. Primary modes of treatment include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR).
ANGER MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST & CERTIFICATION TRAINER
Providing anger management services to self-referred and court-ordered clients. Co-author of Anger Management Essentials: Teen Edition. Contributing author and co-editor of Anger Management Essentials: An Aggression Management Workbook - the cornerstone resource used in the Anger Management Essentials Certification Training, a National Anger Management Association Authorized Certification Program. Honored to serve on the board of the California Association of Anger Management Providers.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
M.A. in Clinical Psychology
Antioch University Los Angeles, Culver City, CA.
Certified Anger Management Specialist-III
Anger Management Essentials, Anita Avedian, MFT.
Mindful Parenting Training
Tandy Parks, MPH in Maternal/Child Health, UCLA Medical Center.
B.A. in Broadcast Journalism
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
BOOKS
"Authors Avedian and Caswell wrote Anger Management Essentials: Teen Edition with an eye on designing a program that could be customized for every reader...It's for anyone interested in managing aggressive behavior and improving relations both at home and at school, and living a more peaceful, fulfilling life." -Amazon.com
YOU CAN DO IT
Increase effective communication skills.
Become an active listener.
Replace unhealthy beliefs with helpful, realistic thinking.
Increase empathy and emotional intelligence.
Gain problem-solving skills.
Manage stress.
Set healthy boundaries.
Get your needs met.
CONTACT ME
Please let me know how I can best support you.
Phone:
323-972-2222
