Therapy for Self-Worth & Identity
Self-Worth
Self-Worth is your internal sense of your own value, that you are good enough, and deserving of love and belonging, as you are. It is not based on performance, perfectionism, or external factors.
If you find yourself wondering, Am I enough? Am I lovable? Do I belong?, you are not alone and these are often questions that arise when we feel disconnected from our sense of self-worth.
Unfortunately, this disconnection can have a big impact on our mental health, relationships, and how we navigate our daily life. The good news is that self-worth can be rediscovered, reconnected to, and fully embodied, even if you have felt distant from it for a while.
Identity
It feels important to say that our identities have many layers. Some examples of different layers include:
Gender identity, Sexuality, Race, Ethnicity, Age, Ability, Country of origin, Current geographic location, Religion, Spirituality, Socio-economic status, Occupation, Field of study, and Hobbies
It is also important to note that our interactions with and connections to different parts of our identity may impact our mental health and self-worth.
We may become very attached to an element of our identity, such as our job or success at school, and allow this to determine how we feel about ourselves. This can externalize our self-worth, making us feel valued for what we do instead of who we are.
We may experience something that shifts our connection to our identity, such as an injury, moving to a new location, social oppression, or identity-based violence, that can shift our sense of self-worth, belonging, or how we get to move through the world.
I believe it is so important in therapy to hold space for your connection to your identity and how society may have impacted your connection to your identity, especially if it has impacted your self-worth. I also believe that when we are given space to explore and be honest about who we are, how we relate to ourselves, and any parts of our identities that feel difficult to be with, we create so much space for self-worth to grow.
How I Can Help:
Help you to become more aware of and process experiences that have led to decreased self-worth through an attachment-based and nervous system lens
Engage in resourcing that allows you to reconnect with a sense of safety in your own body and mind
Identify and reprocess any traumatic experiences that may have left unresolved responses in your body, keeping you in a state of stress, fear, or disconnection from yourself and the world
Explore boundaries and what may support you in feeling greater safety or support in moving through the world and in your relationship with others
Explore any blocking beliefs or thought patterns that are keeping you from feeling your worthiness or keeping you in a state of performance, perfectionism, numbness, or overwhelm
Explore self-trust and self-acceptance, whether through nature-based activities or through your experience in connecting with the rest of the world
Connect to your sense of place, noting that this can play a big role in our sense of security, self-worth, and belonging
Create space to be able to learn from other beings about self-worth and self-trust when it may feel hard to access yourself
Invite a sense of awe, wonder, play, curiosity, movement, all core elements of being a human