Has traditional talk therapy not helped you much on your healing journey? Have you had a tough time connecting with therapists who practice standard therapy modalities? Have you heard about how Gestalt therapy is a great modality for highly sensitive people?
In this podcast episode, Lisa Lewis speaks about how Gestalt therapy helps HSPs feel accepted, loved, and safe to show their emotions with Melissa Bennett-Heinz.
MEET MELISSA BENNETT-HEINZ
Melissa Bennett-Heinz obtained her master’s degree in clinical social work from Columbia University and is a graduate of Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy in New York City, NY. In addition to her background in Gestalt Therapy, she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the esteemed conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, in New York City, where she majored in Oboe Performance.
She is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in the states of New York, Washington, Texas, and North Carolina and has over 20 years of specialized training and experience in the treatment of addiction, PTSD, sexual trauma, childhood abuse, chronic mental illness, and mood and anxiety disorders.
Melissa primarily works with adult men and women in both individual and group settings with people who are highly educated and successful, C-Suite executives who appear to have it together and are “happy” but are stuck in old relational patterns, struggle with perfectionism, relationships, and codependency.
Visit Melissa’s website and connect on Facebook and LinkedIn.
IN THIS PODCAST:
- Compatibility between Gestalt therapy and HSP
- Using empathy as a Gestalt therapist
- Gallop into the world as an HSP
Compatibility between Gestalt therapy and HSP
With any new therapy modality, it is good to give it three sessions if you are unsure because by then you have a better understanding of what it is and how it might work well for you.
Therapists can also use a three-session metric to see whether or not their clients are responding well to the modality.
- Are the clients framing questions back to you in a way that tells you that they have listened to you?
- Has the client understood you?
Using empathy as a Gestalt therapist
Often, since sensitivity is a trait … it’s not something learned, it’s innate, something we’re born with, and [that sensitivity] often manifests [in different ways] and gets mislabeled.
Melissa Bennett-Heinz
Often sensitivity gets mislabeled as traits such as being introverted or inhibited when in fact the person is merely highly sensitive.
Empathy is a tool and an approach that therapists can use, especially in Gestalt therapy, to meet their highly sensitive clients where they are and bring them forward into a new way of being.
I think what’s important with people is not to rip all those layers off immediately and try to get to the fact that they’re so highly sensitive, but to really notice and see what’s happening in the moment for them … as they’re sitting with you.
Melissa Bennett-Heinz
Use your empathy as a tool to allow the layers of the person in front of you to exist so that you can learn about how they create behaviors to cope with their life, and any struggles that they face underneath.
[Start] with what is and what’s happening in the moment and just seeing that person right there where they’re at to reveal the direction that you need to go in as a therapist.
Melissa Bennett-Heinz
Gallop into the world as an HSP
Horses are often a good example of highly sensitive people because they are often hyper-aware of their surroundings and can easily pick up and work from the energy of those around them.
This is both a great skill but can also be a difficult challenge to navigate. Consider the horse rider as someone who has learned the traits of the horse and knows how to direct their energy away from nervousness to focus.
With therapy and learning how to work with the highly sensitive trait, you can learn how to gallop with and lead your horse – the personification of your sensitivity – instead of letting it carry you away.
What you have to do is to be able to properly direct the nervous energy, and when you can, this horse has the capability to perform at the highest standard … How can we gallop into the world as a highly sensitive person instead of shying away from it?
Melissa Bennett-Heinz
RESOURCES MENTIONED AND USEFUL LINKS
Visit Melissa’s website and connect on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Practice of the Practice Network
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CONNECT WITH ME
Email me: lisa@amiokpodcast.com
ABOUT THE AM I OK? PODCAST
So you’ve been told that you’re “too sensitive” and perhaps you replay situations in your head. Wondering if you said something wrong? You’re like a sponge, taking in every word, reading all situations. Internalizing different energies, but you’re not sure what to do with all of this information. You’re also not the only one asking yourself, “am I ok?” Lisa Lewis is here to tell you, “It’s totally ok to feel this way.”
Join Lisa, a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, as she hosts her, Am I Ok? Podcast. With over 20 years of education, training, and life experience, she specializes in helping individuals with issues related to being an empath and a highly sensitive person.
Society, and possibly your own experiences, may have turned your thinking of yourself as being a highly sensitive person into something negative. Yet, in reality, it is something that you can – and should – take ownership of. It’s the sixth sense to fully embrace, which you can harness to make positive changes in your life and in the lives of others.
This may all sound somewhat abstract, but on the Am I Ok? Podcast, Lisa shares practical tips and advice you can easily apply to your own life. Lisa has worked with adults from various backgrounds and different kinds of empaths, and she’s excited to help you better connect with yourself. Are you ready to start your journey?