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Bowen Family Systems therapy for individuals and couples
What issues do clients bring to therapy?
Clients seek therapy to address a variety of issues, like anxiety, depression, chronic stress, relationship issues or conflict with partners, family or at work, premarital counseling, life transitions, caregiving of parents or spouse, parenting difficulties, grief and loss, career changes, and trauma. Through my training in Bowen Family Systems therapy and a trauma processing modality called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Individual and couples therapy can help with all these issues . Please click the "services" link on the top menu for more details.
How do I work with clients?
I work in Austin, Tx and use Bowen Family Systems Theory. This is a theory of human behavior developed by psychiatrist Dr. Murray Bowen is effective for individual and couples therapy, and families as well. It views the family as an emotional unit in which individuals learn how to relate to others and learn automatic patterns of adaptation passed down through generations that affect daily functioning and relationships. Family counseling or therapy frames personal and relationship issues in the context of the family system rather than within the individual. From this neutral perspective, the therapist and client work to improve the client's level of functioning, the quality of their relationships, rather than letting emotional patterns direct the client's actions and decision making process. In the words of Dr. Murray Bowen, "That which is created in a relationship can be fixed in a relationship."
About the therapist
My name is Irene Perez, MA, LPC. I have a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the Seminary of the Southwest and I am member of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). I have a background in massage therapy, teaching, and fine arts. The experience of helping clients heal in body and spirit, led me to want to support clients (individuals and couples) in their relationships, from intimate to friendships and professional. I am from South America and live in Austin since 1985. I am fluent in Spanish and English. My life experience as a bicultural woman, wife and mother, business owner, caregiver for family members who were terminally ill, provides a wide range of life experience to ground me and helps me offer non-judgmental, compassionate support to my clients. I am a lifelong learner and completed three more years of studies at the Bowen Center in Washington, D.C. In my free time, I enjoy exercise, painting, gardening, books, and movies.
What is the first step to begin therapy?
You have already taken the first step to start your journey. The next step would be to request a free 20-minute phone consultation through the contact page for me to learn more about what you are looking for, introduce myself, and figure out if this would be the right fit for you. You can schedule individual or couples sessions in person in Austin or via video from other cities in Texas.