About Birch Counseling

Our mission at Birch Counseling is to promote the growth and development of our clients.  Life can be hard, and everyone gets stuck from time to time.  We offer a safe and compassionate environment, in which confidential matters can be discussed and explored.  Counseling can be helpful if you:

  • Feel sad and unmotivated much of the time

  • Spend a lot of time worrying

  • Are facing a major transition in your life

  • Get nervous in situations where others seem to be at ease

  • Are concerned about your use of alcohol or drugs

  • Can’t stop gambling or shopping

  • Spend a lot of time thinking about food, or feel you have lost control over eating

  • Are concerned about a family member

  • Can’t seem to make relationships work

  • Would like to get along better with your partner

  • Are uncertain about whether you should save or leave a relationship

  • Have been abused sexually, emotionally or physically

  • Need to process a concern that you feel could use professional guidance

The goal of Birch Counseling is to gain a thorough understanding of the problems you bring to us.  We listen without judgment, and help you look at problems from a multitude of perspectives.  We help you to “see different” and develop the skills you need to outgrow your problems. 

How we work

Look closely at the bark of a birch tree.  It is cracked, and peels in thin layers.  Sometimes it looks like it is falling apart.  Yet these peelings are a unique adaptation to the tree’s rapid growth.  With the shedding of the bark, pathogens fall away and so protect the tree.

We too grow a defensive bark of sorts around our vulnerable core.  Like the birch, we need to periodically shed these protective layers for health and growth. It’s a process many of us try to resist because it makes us feel vulnerable in a world that often seems cold and dangerous. Rather than allowing the cracks to peel off our defensive layers, we try to patch them up.

Some of us have many layers of patches, especially if we were hurt deeply and often.  It feels like a form of armor and creates the illusion that we can never get hurt again. Over time, this armor makes us sick.  It weighs us down and consumes our energy.  It gets in the way when we try to connect with others.  We can use it to hurt people, especially loved ones, in much the same ways we were hurt.

The armor deprives us of light and air.  It keeps us from growing. A sense of emptiness creeps in.  We feel bored, sad, lonely, angry, disillusioned, unsure of ourselves, and our purpose.  Sometimes addictions develop that provide temporary relief from feeling bad, while making us even more ill.  

As you teach us about you, your life, and the situations that brought you to us, we help you shift perspectives so you can start seeing new possibilities. When you allow us to help you peel the layers you no longer need for protection, you may notice feeling lighter and more alive. Through the cracks that once scared you, you can learn to breathe again.  

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICE

Click here to read Birch Counseling's notice of Privacy Practice.