Along with talk-therapy, I use tools to help activate your right brain’s resources to bring the issues alive in the room and allow something new to happen.

These tools include:

-empty chair or psychodrama conversations with important parts of yourself or people in your life
-sand tray play
-props such as scarves to concretize elements we are exploring
-time machine
-art therapy
-ritual
-writing exercises
-guided visualizations
-meditation/mindfulness

Therapy with me is a collaborative process: I propose activities, but you are in control. Together we find what will expand your comfort zone but not overwhelm you.

“Two of the traits I value most highly in a therapist are warmth and authenticity. I have worked alongside Florie while co-leading an interpersonal process group, and these are without a doubt two of her strengths. Florie has a way of putting people at ease because from the moment you meet her, you know in your bones that Florie is being Florie. There is safety in that, I think.” Sean Cook, Psy.D., Psychotherapist

Specialties

Grief Work

 

“And she said losing love is like a window in your heart

Everybody sees you’re blown apart

Everybody feels the wind blow”

Paul Simon

 

 

I love working with grief. Partly because people’s defenses are blown down and it’s easy to make deep, meaningful contact as fellow mortal humans. Another aspect is I’m just especially good at it. This type of pain is far from burdensome; it deeply touches me. I feel honored to work with it, to hold it and have it flow through me back into the ground. Finally, the main reason: grief is the flip side of joy. The depth of our grief reflects the depth of our love. In Battlestar Galactica the cylons envy humans for their mortality, for without impermanence they find it hard to appreciate or enjoy anything. It’s the fleetingness and unknown duration of each moment and relationship that’s at the source of the magic of being alive. Working with grief reminds me of all this, so it feels like a gift to do this work.

For more of my thoughts on grief listen to this interview of me with Beth Ruyak on NPR’s Capital Public Radio show “Insight.”http://ia601503.us.archive.org/13/items/Insight-121210/Insight-121210a.mp3

For more on my work with The Conscious Dying Network: http://theconsciousdyingnetwork.com/speakers/

“Florie is a caring soul, a nice mix of compassion and playfulness. She is particularly exceptional when working with grief and loss.” Carlos Canales, Psy.D., Psychotherapist

Expressive Art Therapies

I do a lot of things with scarves. There’s something about the textures and colors that brings us into the moment and wakes up our right brains. Suddenly we’re no longer talking about the issues abstractly, but playing together in a way that’s fun and alive. I also use found objects, psychodrama, empty chair, inner characters or parts work, ritual, drawing, maps, crystal balls and time machines. I believe these techniques can fast track  our work, going straight to the emotional core and uncovering new perspectives and insights that are hard to access when we’re just talking in the familiar and perhaps tired story of how we see and relate to our issues. These offerings are always optional, so if you’re most comfortable just talking, I am fine with that too.

“Over four months of sand play, role play (psychodrama/empty chair conversations with different parts of myself), and ritual, I worked through the pain of ending a six-year relationship, the confusion of attempting too soon to begin a new love relationship, and blocks around pursuing my lifelong goal of becoming a writer. Thanks in large part to my time with Florie, I was able to navigate this time with as much grace as I could muster (and forgive myself when that just wasn’t possible), and make my way to New York where I am now creating the artistic life I’ve always imagined.

I keep reminders of our sessions handy for when I am experiencing doubt. For example, I have a letter from my “Wise Self,” written during a role play session, from the perspective of a more self-possessed me who is 10 years older, this relationship and the fears of pursuing an artistic career far in the past. I’m noticing the qualities I’d imagined my wise self to have, when I was in a much less hopeful place, manifesting and emerging now. Your intuition is always far ahead of your logical mind, and Florie helps you tap into that space consciously with her dynamic methods.” Celeste Irene Hackenberg, MFA candidate at Sarah Lawrence, Former Client