Modern psychotherapy is brain and gut health as well as the way we think. Our mission is to improve neuron transfer by your implementing healthier thought patterns, on-ramping better physiology through exercise, working with your doctor adding probiotics for a healthier gut and micro-biome, stopping once and for all your defeating automatic negative thoughts thereby, all to facilitate clearer, optimal functioning in your brain.
About Sima
I was pre-med at Baylor University later finding interest and focus in sociology and human behavior. Early in my career, I began working with physically/sexually abused children, ages 5-11yo, in Northern California for 4.5 years. I gained competencies/ certifications in addictionology through San Jose State addiction and drug certification program while interning at San Francisco General Hospital Stimulant Treatment Outpatient Program. I especially found interest in how we all mood alter, even from birth-sometimes developing negative (often temporary difficult relationships with substances and behaviors). I saw it as crucial to excel in understanding the intersections of mental health, relation to substances, food, compulsive behaviors and neurology. I enjoy exhorting (helping you be at your best) as well as raising your stress tolerance level.
I bring 27 years clinical psychotherapy experience US and Helsinki, Finland Areas of: mental health, harm reduction, moderation training skills and alternatives to abstinence/AA
Selected Client List
Apple
Bank of America
Brookings Institute
Center for American Progress
Fannie Mae
Home Depot
Hyatt Hotels
IRS
Kaiser Permanente
Marriott
Merrill Lynch
NASA
NBC
Pentagon
Starbuck’s
Suntrust Bank
Target
United Way
US Border Patrol
US Navy
World Vision
Our Services
Important areas include: fierce job expectations, unexpected life experiences, trauma, attachments, PTSD, abuse, and self-acceptance. What if you do matter, you are enough, you are not a fraud and can develop tools to start living with joy and gratitude. Interestingly, now brain scans can even show objective and measurable changes when neural pathways are more clear. Effective modern psychotherapy will include healthy brain/gut health, psychoanalytic understanding in attachments to each other as well as our relationships to internal objects. Spirituality matters as well-even in a politically correct world where many fear mention it. We are biological, psychological, social and spiritual beings-to exclude understanding of even one of these invites reductionism even in a current manic political arena. I care for my clients and even have love for them beyond the transactions and misconceptions about what is therapy.
Anxiety/OCD/ Panic Disorder
Feel overwhelmed? Come get relief! Mood disorders are very responsive to therapy and often concurrent medication- they do NOT need to be permanent-in fact just the opposite, experience joy and humor while in atmospheres that are demanding.
Executive Coaching
I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with executives for 17 years. In partnering with you on the goals you want to work on we’ve seen dynamic and often rather quick results. Sometimes there exists blocks to inner creativity, natural leadership skills and that “flow” when your passions, gifting and “calling” on your life becomes “unstuck.’ Success areas I’ve witnessed breakthroughs with executives include: fast-tract leadership development, faster achievement of goals, improved work relationships, resolution of conflicts in the workplace, ability to inspire teams, better planning, more confident communication and actual pay increases and promotions. I’m happy to share very specific examples of tools to use in “getting what you want. In the past years I’ve literally seen more than a handful of executives see me for less than a year and proceed to have tremendous pay increases! And I am not just “ selling” this in this description—come in and I’ll give you very specific examples. Further, you will leave with very useable, proactive effective tools for breaking free from “scarcity” and poverty mentalities. You can even learn to have some joy in the process of increasing your income and career trajectory.
Christian/Faith Affirmative counseling
My goal is to “meet the person where they are.” If a client has an extensive history of growing up in the church, benefiting from their faith involvement or sadly often being hurt or rejected by the church due to sexuality, difficulty with dogma or “a religion” that does not mean these things can’t be talked about, worked through in therapy. I am Christian and this certainly colors my worldview but this does not preclude dialogue about any or no religion or faith. Very important is acknowledging sometimes clients hold trauma from past or present spiritual abuse-this needs witnessing, acknowledging and validation. You are worthy of love and you are not a mistake.
Onsite Critical Incident Response
I can provide immediate onsite reponse to critical incidents, emergencies, workplace violence, suicides, sexual harassment, active shooter aftermath and natural disasters. I was trained and active on a citywide critical incident team as a volunteer working with city authorities. Currently for the past 20 years I have provided services onsite to nearly 8,000 indivuals conducting no less than 600 critical responses including bank robbery response, suicide, death in the workplace and responding to the aftermath of psychopathic behavior in workplace settings such as homicides and bomb threats.
Department of Transportation (SAP Evaluations)
I hold the SAP (Substance Abuse Professional) as recognized by (DOT) The Department of Transportation and required under federal law or evaluation DOT employee federal violations. I have conducted over 100 of these assessments over the past 15 years. I stay current on the ever changing federal guidelines to provide thorough and fair assessments and treatment recommendations. It is then in the hands of the original employer whether they retain or move forward with the CDL driver or DOT employee’s “safety sensitive duties.’ But I always try to be “fair, firm and friendly”- the publics’ safety is paramount and under Department of Transportation, public safety is the actual client here. Often successful resolution leads to quick return to duty.
Moderation Management Substances/Alcohol
Did you know some people can learn to moderate/reduce their use of alcohol- even substances without an abstinence goal. You might have the ability to learn harm reduction strategies to gain an ordered relationship with mood altering? We ALL mood alter- even since birth, childhood, spinning on a merry go round or eating many sweets. Moralizing relationships to substances and behaviors is reductionism and boxes people into labels like “alcoholic or “addict”—sadly, a badge they are expected to wear a lifetime—often completely unnecessary. Let’s partner together in skill building and exploration to see if you can unfold healthier relationships with alcohol/substances. Could you drink 7 or less drinks a week? Use turmeric to curtail iron overload? Important new study released July 2022: https://www.ndph.ox.ac.uk/news/new-study-finds-even-moderate-alcohol-consumption-may-increase-brain-damage-potentially-through-iron-overload. Harm Reduction is science, practical and can even be enjoyable—come experience a breakthrough, shed the shame over judging yourself. Let’s celebrate the best years of your life. You HAVE soundness of mind and you HAVE self-control. A prevailing paradigm of being told your “powerless” is NOT true.
Psychopathy PCL-R Evaluations
Dr. Robert Hare, PhD, paved the way in our understanding anti-social, sociopathic and more specifically, psychopathic behavior. Such severe narcissism, often malignant narcissism and separate clusters of behavior where a person has the inability to feel love, compassion or remorse for hurting others is important to understand. Psychopathic people often hurt people that later end up in psychotherapy. I have been extensively trained in the evaluation of psychopathic individuals. I have worked with incarcerated populations, criminals and conducted trainings in men and women’s prisons for 4 years.
Trauma/PTSD/Depression
Trauma is encoded and held in the body and “the body remembers.” Fight or flight and self-preservation is usually the beginning of ruminating(compulsive and constant/automatic) and self defeating thoughts. Depression can globalize to other parts of the brain and body-worsening without proper attention. The good news is therapy with sometimes supportive medication (even herbal medicine) often works to radically alleviate PTSD and depression. There now exist extensive tools and research proven approaches to bring change.
Opioid Treatment/ Suboxone
Working in an opiate clinic full time for 4 years, I’m able to help you with dependencies such as those to: OxyContin, Morphine, heroin, Percocet, Lortab, Codeine and many others. Come for a non-judgemental full assessment to see how you can be successful. It might be through reduction, abstinence or an opiate replacement therapy such as Suboxone, Subutex or Methadone. I work with prescribers that can start an induction on Suboxone often in the same day as your assessment with me. Let’s see you finally see victories in opiate dependency and clearer neural pathways to live your life!
Addiction Harm Reduction
Meeting you where you are at rather than where people think you’re “supposed to be” is my goal. Harm reduction approaches support a person’s progress with believing that “ any movement in the direction of less harm IS success.” The “ War on Drugs” has been and continues to be an epic failure. It is indeed important to explore the actual biology of drugs or actual consequences to destructive behavior patterns but only in the context of the mindset( what function might it be serving a person? Adaptive or maladaptive? What is the setting? It’s important to discover sometimes success lies in some settings of a person’s life but not in others.
LGBTQIA Affirmative Counseling
If you are gay, lesbian, transgender, bi-sexual, questioning, intersex or asexual, you have a right to love, acceptance, affirmation, equality and a rightful place to practice your spirituality. Heterosexual privilege is the privilege to “not have to know suffering for being a sexual minority.” Often when one is requesting for equality, they are met with weariness from those “ tired” of hearing about it—wanting it simply, “to not be in our faces.” Scores of individuals have also been victims of spiritual abuse within churches imposing mandates to change (or else, excommunication/public humiliation), conversion “therapies” and unspeakable condoned rejection from behind the pulpit. Whether you be Judeo/Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Pagan, Agnostic or Atheist, you have a right to express your faith, having a “ place at the table.” If you desire a safe and affirming place to unpack-potentially off load some of these abuses, please come in for an appointment.
DBT, CBT, EMDR -27 advanced US/International experience
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) ( informed approach) is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy once thought only necessary for extreme cases of borderline personality disorder or those with active self-harm. It became apparent to me quite a few years ago that these very effective strategies( even measurable results seen in brain scans such as FMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans, could be used with those presenting wanting to raise their stress tolerance levels or perhaps those seeking to integrate a painful life event into their awareness rather than trying to solely block it out. I have 20 plus years of training and hold advanced certification in DBT informed therapy. I find it most helpful to use therapies eclectically—aspects of psychodynamic, aspects of cognitive behavior therapy and even radical acceptance approaches such as mindfulness or existential psychology—sometimes, as Frued once said, “Good therapy is learning how to accept life’s everyday unhappiness.” Thinking one can extricate all life’s pain is an endeavor imposed often with early career therapists—mostly rooted in the safety and projections of the newly graduated therapist’s counter-transference unexplored areas. I certainly have shadows and blinds spots of my own after 27 years and 55 years of life but thank God they are now less than they were years ago— a win win for both of us!
About your therapy dog, “Thunder”, long-hair miniature dauchund
Therapy dogs can help diminish stress, lower blood pressure and potentially help a person to relax, and receive more benefits of psychotherapy. If you decide, we can discuss documentation needed for you to use an emotional support animal. “Thunder”, my therapy dog used for clients(and you) has been successful in helping people relax, at times even, new clients never having had therapy become more readily receptive. His daughter, “Sasha”, works as a full time therapy dog in Obstetrics Gynecology office full time in Roanoke, Virginia with apparently, glowing client good reports! I think you’ll see why Sasha is so loving and intuitive to patients when you meet her father, “Thunder.” This benefit will only be for certain office locations.
Book an appointment now
Search for “Stillings” therapist and book an appointment at your convenience 24 hours a day! If you need help call our 24 hour answering service phone at: (844) 257-8550. We have a new and improved appointment system, so be patient as we all learn this- good news is many, many user friendly features: appointment reminders automatic, excuse letters printable, late evening appoints offered and up to 4 convenient to YOU office locations.
At all of your appointments you get FREE:
Coffee, mocha lattes, tea, snacks at times, private phone areas, beautiful spacious lounge, free strong wifi, private fully confidential entrance if needed, under building paid parking, dining tables if eating before appointment and, many more.
Resources
Dept transportation (DOT)clearinghouse
National Domestic Violence Hotline
National Sexual Assault Hotline
Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Veterans Crisis Line
Trans Lifeline
The Trevor Project
Peer talk links each state
World Suicide Prevention
Harm Reduction Coalition
harmreduction.org
(east coast)—212-213-6376
(west coast)—510-285-2799