James Yates provides individual counseling grounded in a holistic, mind/body approach that affirms your inherent capacity for healing and growth. He promotes mindfulness that engenders compassionate awareness of self—your thoughts, feelings and emotions. He emphasizes addressing both the obstacles and the good you encounter along your path to creating the life you want. This involves working through and letting go of self-defeating thoughts and behaviors, while identifying, strengthening and taking in the positive, supportive and fulfilling things about yourself and your life. His specialties include:
- Life transitions: relationships, career, loss, aging, major life decisions and getting unstuck
- Lifestyle changes
- Finding a fulfilling career (see: Career with Heart)
James’ holistic approach works with your whole self—the inseparable unity of mind, body and emotions—and your relationship with others, nature and the human-made world. If you have a spiritual inclination, he emphasizes the importance of including the spiritual dimension as well. With this holistic perspective comes the understanding—as James will often say—“There is no silver bullet, just many silver raindrops.” There is no single, quick fix, but rather a multifaceted solution that addresses all the different, interrelated aspects of your life that contribute to and detract from your current state of well-being. While James’ primary focus is on your psychological experience, he emphasizes the importance of addressing other factors, such as nutrition, exercise, sleep, spirituality, relationships with others, connecting with nature, and having fun. He will often serve as a coach, helping clients to make changes in these areas.
James’ primary treatment approaches are Gestalt Therapy and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which are grounded in mindfulness. In addition, he incorporates many tools and techniques he has learned and developed over the years. He is committed to giving clients tools such as meditation, moment-to-moment mindfulness, the power of intention, communication tools, and much more, to promote their health and growth.