Elizabeth (Betsy) Bowers, LPC
Hi there! Thank you for your interest in making a change in your life. My name is Betsy Bowers. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor at Reflective Wellness: Mind and Body. You will find my approach to be eclectic, comprehensive and tailored to individual needs.
My primary clients are children, adolescents, young adults and families, though I also enjoy working with couples and adults dealing with various issues.
Throughout my practice, I have been drawn to working with the struggles of Depression, Anxiety, Mood Dysregulation, Trauma, and Relationship Difficulties. To quote my one of my graduate school professors, Dr. Bill Richardson, I believe that “we are hurt in relationship and we are healed in relationship”.
Therapeutic Models of Use:
Client-Centered Approach:
I desire to get to know the Client from the perspective of relationship with a compassionate, genuine and warm approach. With this in mind, there are things that you know about yourself that I could never know and my hope is to be able to accompany you on your journey to explore the heights and depths in your life.
Psychodynamic Theory:
One of my favorite psychological figures is Carl Jung. He is famous for his work on the collective unconscious, archetypes, and analytical psychology. I particularly love his quote, “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.” Life is full of paradoxes, many of which one doesn’t particularly like to acknowledge. As a fellow traveler of the human race, I agree with Jung (and Jordan Peterson) that change is to be pursued and found in the most unlikely of places in your life.
Existential Psychotherapy:
The realities and sufferings of our daily lives cannot be ignored. The resulting tension will resurface in different forms- be it physical, psychological, or behavioral. In his book on Existential Psychotherapy, Irvin B. Yalom (1980) quotes Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank, “When we protect ourselves…from a too intensive or too quick living out or living up, we feel ourselves guilty on account of the unused life, the unlived life in us.” I like asking deep questions, often uncomfortable ones. What do you think about death? What has loss taught you about living? Do you derive your identity from your external world or is it determined by your inner drives and energy? What are the forces at war within you that keep you from living your life to the fullest?
Play Therapy:
Though I like to keep the spirit of play active in all my sessions, I particularly enjoy allowing the littles to direct therapeutic focus in order to help them discover their talents, gifts and strengths in an organic way. Children learn through the power of play and I seek to apply this in appointments and to teach a child’s family members this relationship-enhancing truth. I have found that children have an innate sense of direction in processing difficult things though they do not do it through language, which perplexes adults in their lives. Winnicott’s statement that, “Inside every child there is a story that needs to be told” holds a great deal of wisdom, and that story will be illustrated using objects, toys, art, and maybe a sand tray!
Emotion-Focused Therapy:
It is one of my greatest joys to help others build skills of emotional regulation and provide strategies to enhance relationship satisfaction. In the therapy world, we speak about relationships as “attachment”, emphasizing the core need to be consistently connected to another human or spiritual figure. I believe that Sue Johnson (2019) communicates several concepts to which I theoretically align l in her text Attachment Theory in Practice as she states, “Predictable physical and/or emotional connection with an attachment figure…calms the nervous system and shapes a physical and mental sense of a safe haven where comfort and reassurance can be reliably obtained and emotional balance can be restored or enhanced.”
Family Systems:
I am of the persuasion that the way to introduce change is to become part of the system through learning and direct encounter of a family on their terms. In Family Therapy Techniques, Minuchin and Fishman (1981) assert “the therapist…must let himself be pulled and pushed by the system in order to experience its characteristics.” In my training as a therapist, I was privileged to experience the opportunity of live supervision with families seeking healing. The benefit of this cannot be overstated, because I was exposed to the lively flow of energy necessary to affect change in complex systems. Navigating the anxiety of having your peers and your professors watch you do therapy with a family or a couple has prepared me for various conflicts and situations. I am constantly energized and feel humbled to come into contact with the sacred network of relationships in a family through my therapy practice.
Internal Family Systems:
I love utilizing Internal Family Systems in therapy, as I feel that it is an empowering and hopeful orientation. Without being too technical, Internal Family Systems is informed by Family Systems, mentioned above. What is unique about Internal Family Systems (IFS) is its intuitive application. When someone says, “A part of me feels” this or that and “another part of me feels” such and such, one is naturally communicating the multiplicity that exists in one’s internal system. When it comes to trauma, sufferers know all too well about the splintering that occurs in being, functioning and living. Internal Family Systems provides a framework for understanding how a human’s many parts can experience healing under leadership of the Self.
More about me:
In my free time, I love spending time with my fur babies, family and friends. I’m originally from the South and moved here to enjoy nature and the outdoors. Throughout the week, I make time for art, reading, listening to music, live shows, yoga, and running. I am a very spiritual person and balancing my existence with work, reflection and play is essential.