TESTIMONIALS FROM PREVIOUS CLIENTS

 

Loraine created a warm, supportive, safe environment for me to be completely honest about my feelings and experiences.  She not only listened well – often beyond the words being said, but also provided insights and perspectives that often changed or deepened my understanding.  She was not afraid to challenge my conclusions which I found very valuable.  Perhaps most valuable of all, she adapted her approach to mesh with my ways of understanding the world providing me counseling in my own language.

 

-S.Y., age 36, weekly sessions for 8 months

  

After my initial intake with Dr. Van Tuyl, I was instantly put at ease.  She has a wonderful sense of warmth to her demeanor, which makes you feel comfortable and ready to disclose personal information.  During my year of therapy with Dr. Van Tuyl, she has helped me tremendously in my personal growth.  This was not just through supportive listening or empathy, but also through challenges and interventions.  Many times, the challenges were presented in a way that provoked thought and introspection rather than feelings of strong confrontation that might make one feel threatened.  Often times interventions employed were a good mix of interpretations in session, cognitive behavioral techniques, and hypnosis.  She has a wonderful ability to provide feedback in a non-judgmental way.  I felt she truly understood where I came from and gave me a safe place to delve deeper into my own feelings.  She was very open to feedback along the way and throughout my year, I experienced tremendous self-awareness, greater confidence to tackle new obstacles, and a stronger sense of self.  Now, I feel more at ease and balanced. 

 

-V.C., age 24, weekly sessions for 1 year

 

        My experience with Dr. Loraine Van Tuyl was therapeutic, wonderful, and life transforming.  She taught me that I am capable of leading my own life and opened up avenues of exploration within and external to myself that has enriched my life tremendously.  Needless to say, the therapeutic skills Loraine has in her tool belt were of great importance to my healing, especially the sense of safety she created and the combination of eastern and western healing methods she employed on our journey together.

 Before I met Loraine, I had never truly bared my soul to anyone.  That was because as a child, I learned that sharing my feelings was physically and emotionally unsafe, and therefore I closed off a part of me that had a voice and feelings.  Suffice to say, it took a long time for me to reveal myself to Loraine.  But I did so eventually as a result of her ability to consistently hold a sacred space.  Giving me the validation and mirroring that I needed, and being open to my good and bad allowed for an environment spared of the judgment.  Likewise, in our work together, Loraine spoke to me as a human being and not as a therapist talking to a client.  Her warm, vast, and genuine presence was welcoming and comforting, and she was consistently in sync with what I needed in the moment.

Loraine’s unique therapeutic methods were also integral to my healing. They were of a remarkable mixture that was greatly innovative in its combination of both eastern and western philosophies.  The methods I enjoyed and felt most supported by were depth hypnosis and shamanic journeying.  Through these visceral experiences, I was able to reconnect with my body, feel sensations that were long repressed, and heighten the awareness of my senses.  I was also able to truly feel for the first time in my adult life rather than grasp at feelings with abstract intellectualizations.  What I uncovered gave me profound insights about my perception of self, interactions with others, and generally how I functioned in the world.  I learned that I am no longer just a victim of others and of life, and that I am capable of shaping my own path and taking responsibility for each of my decisions.

Being the wonderful teacher that she is, Loraine armed me with tools that led to greater awareness and capability to hold life’s ups and downs.  She helped me uncover my wings, believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself, and helped me understand that courage is not always comfortable.  It is with her kind and loving support that I was finally able to trust myself, jump, and take a graceful flight from my nest of my childhood and trauma. 

 

- D.L., age 27, weekly sessions for 2 years

 

Initially, I was anxious about disclosing personal problems I had faced but the atmosphere created by Loraine was very warm and supportive.  I felt like I was talking to a good friend as I progressed in my therapy.  She challenged some of my flawed assumptions and thinking, and instilled in me ideas which I applied to my daily life and which made me more peaceful and content.  One thing I got from her was learning how to stay emotionally stable through techniques such as meditation and just learning to be aware of what I was feeling at certain periods of time.  I am still working on this, but I have noticed a greater openness and sense of calm, similar to what I have experienced before my depression, arising since treatment.  She was very committed to serving my needs and encouraged me to tell her things that I had felt I was struggling with but lacked the courage to address on my own.  I have dealt with a past history of abuse in a dysfunctional family and have struggled with my self-image and self-esteem.  After completing therapy, I have become more resilient and less anxious around novel situations by realizing that I am and can only be myself and that what people feel is not what I should be required to feel.  I made a healthy separation of my emotional world from that of others. 

 

- M.S., age 19, biweekly sessions for 5 months

 

Loraine has given me the tools and vision that I need to make my life happy and balanced – which is the greatest gift one could ask for.  I am going to keep working hard and striving to find my inner peace.

 

- D.C., age 27, weekly sessions for 1 year

 

The use of hypnotherapy with Loraine immediately departed from any therapy experience up to that point.  I was certainly resistant at first, but gradually understood how it helped me to access emotions that I was silencing for years – consciously or not. My discomfort at the idea was revealing of an inability to address concerns on any level other than intellectual, speech-based dialogue. Hypnotherapy ultimately provided me with a deep understanding of how one’s concerns and emotions may be easily understood intellectually but that this insight may not be adequate in changing behavioral patterns.  The hypnotherapy sessions often left me feeling infused with strength – that my core elements were in equilibrium – something which I never achieved easily with talk therapy alone, which seems to rely more heavily upon conscious recognition and effort to change one’s behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions.  Through hypnotherapy, I was able to come to terms with some behavioral patterns in a more productive way.  Most rewarding, however, was an acute feeling of emotional and physical wholeness which I began to experience after sessions involving hypnotherapy.

 

- T.A., age 29, weekly session for 1 year

   

  Loraine has a beautifully simple yet thorough style of counseling.  She leads you to the answers you need rather than only listens to what you have to say.  I very much enjoyed each session for every time I left her office, I felt like I had discovered a new piece of myself.  I absolutely loved hypnotherapy and her shamanic journeys, and found them to be incredibly enlightening.    After working with Loraine for a year, I felt more grounded within myself and she helped me realize that I have the tools and the capabilities to address and work through life’s curve balls.  I would highly recommend Loraine to anyone who has the will to change, has an open mind, and is struggling with the mundane for she truly helped me to see life in a brand new light.   

 

- E.E., age 20, bi-weekly sessions for 1 year

 

I first began seeing Dr. Van Tuyl as a college student struggling with difficult intimate relationships and friendships.  Loraine helped me to learn very quickly that much of my anxiety and past feelings of victimization stemmed in large part from being a "highly sensitive person".  What a tremendous relief to realize that my characteristics that I had seen as weaknesses (being heavily affected by others; taking others' feelings on as my own) could be strengths as well!  I learned to see these characteristics that had hurt me in the past in a new light and positively:  I can easily understand others' perspectives, I have tremendous empathy, and I can use my sensitivity to deepen and strengthen the intimacy of my relationships instead of making them more volatile.  In practical terms, Loraine helped me to transition out of an intimate relationship that was no longer good for me.  I also gained new confidence and took very positive steps toward ending negative "self talk" that was crippling me.  Loraine's insight, compassion, patience, and guidance was invaluable.  She was able to offer practical advice as well as guide me through hypnosis in which I explored deeper internal struggles and subconscious experiences, feelings, and motives.  I will always be thankful for my time with Dr. Van Tuyl.