Covid 19 Update: Video Psychotherapy and In-Person Sessions Available

Dear clients and potential clients,

I am currently offering video sessions for the time being via Simple Practice. I am also offering in-person sessions in my office. I will wear a mask during all sessions for the time being. In person sessions are on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Please contact me at rexdwest@gmail.com to schedule a session.

May you and your loved ones be safe and well.

Rex West, Ground Counseling LLC

Providing psychotherapy with compassion, empathy, humility, and an open heart

As human beings we have the power to change our experience in any given moment and to rewire our brains and nervous systems to create the lives that we want to live. The work is all about relationships: the relationship we have with ourselves, with our partners, with our families, friends, coworkers, other sentient beings, the environment inside and outside of us, with the past, present, and future. It is in the dynamic of the intrapersonal and the interpersonal that we can effectively explore who we are, what is possible, and to make the changes we want to see in our lives play out in our relationships.

We can define mental health as the ability to monitor ourselves and modify our states so that we integrate our lives. Then things that appeared unchangeable can actually be changed.

~ Dan Siegel

Counseling Services

I am passionate about relationships and working with couples and families within the relationship context to support change and secure functioning. I am fascinated by organisms and systems and bring this into all that I do in my work.

While I believe that all states of being are workable, I have come to focus on a few specific areas of living, which are listed below.

Grief

I view grief as one of the least understood and most prevalent elements of human experience. It is one of the most profound experiences in our lives and can be a catalyst for acceptance and change. Grief is about loss, whatever the loss may be not only death. This can be around major life changes such as birth, death, ending of relationships, jobs, etc. We actually experience loss on a daily basis in the form of change. I work to bring grief and loss into the broader consciousness of being a whole and healthy human being.

Learn More

Individuals

We are all part of multiple, interconnected systems. We are connected to the world outside us through a wide variety of systems; interpersonal, family, energetic, biological, informational, spiritual to name a few. There are systems outside of us that also influence our lives. My approach is to explore and evaluate the systems that are pertinent for each individual, couple, and family I work with as a means to make sense of who my clients are and how they got to where they are in their lives.

Learn More

Couples

I work with couples in a highly dynamic, direct, and experiential approach to cultivating secure functioning within the couple dyad that allows us to explore what happens in your relationship in realtime and work directly with can bring about change. I am not afraid to explore all facets of a couple’s relationship to bring about change. This process is based in attachment theory, cutting edge developmental neurobiology, and affect regulation. The foundations of my work with couples is Stan Tatkin’s PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy) model and a systems-based approach. I also incorporate other elements such as Non Violent Communication, effective and safe boundary creation and maintenance, and mindfulness-based techniques.

Learn More

Couples

I work with couples in a highly dynamic, direct, and experiential approach to cultivating secure functioning within the couple dyad that allows us to explore what happens in your relationship in realtime and work directly with can bring about change. I am not afraid to explore all facets of a couple’s relationship to bring about change. This process is based in attachment theory, cutting edge developmental neurobiology, and affect regulation. The foundations of my work with couples is Stan Tatkin’s PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy) model and a systems-based approach. I also incorporate other elements such as Non Violent Communication, effective and safe boundary creation and maintenance, and mindfulness-based techniques.

Learn More

Family Systems

As a parent and a former K-8 teacher, I am fascinated by the dynamic functioning of systems. This plays out in my work with both couples and family systems. My approach to working with family systems is similar to how I explore working with couples, which is a dynamic, active, and effective experiential approach, based in the PACT model. In place of focusing on one family member as the problem or patient, I bring the presenting issues to the broader context of the family system as a whole and work with the roles each member of the system plays in pursuit of solutions that work for everyone in the system. I work in a very open, honest, and direct manner that cuts to the heart of the issues that are really getting in the family’s way, with the objective of healthy and secure functioning. I work to support both the parent(s) and the children in feeling seen, heard, and acknowledged through open, honest, and clear communication and through setting and maintaining clear and appropriate boundaries with each other. Together we work to make changes that are healthy for the system and that work for all parts of the system.

Learn More

Family Systems

As a parent and a former K-8 teacher, I am fascinated by the dynamic functioning of systems. This plays out in my work with both couples and family systems. My approach to working with family systems is similar to how I explore working with couples, which is a dynamic, active, and effective experiential approach, based in the PACT model. In place of focusing on one family member as the problem or patient, I bring the presenting issues to the broader context of the family system as a whole and work with the roles each member of the system plays in pursuit of solutions that work for everyone in the system. I work in a very open, honest, and direct manner that cuts to the heart of the issues that are really getting in the family’s way, with the objective of healthy and secure functioning. I work to support both the parent(s) and the children in feeling seen, heard, and acknowledged through open, honest, and clear communication and through setting and maintaining clear and appropriate boundaries with each other. Together we work to make changes that are healthy for the system and that work for all parts of the system.

Learn More

Life Transitions: adolescents and adults

Transformation in Transition. The opportunity to transform ourselves into the person that we want to be is possible. Working from the basis of change being the only constant, I have found that the most effective way to realize such changes in ourselves is to do so in relationship with others. Together we can explore whatever transition you are experiencing as an opportunity for transforming your life. The therapeutic relationship is a unique way to see what is possible for ourselves with guidance and support. Areas of exploration include supportive structure, commitments, communication, boundaries, needs, emotions, feelings, resourcing, the three brain approach (body, heart, mind), mindfulness practices. Work with adolescents often includes direct support of parents as well.

Learn More

Life Transitions: adolescents and adults

Transformation in Transition. The opportunity to transform ourselves into the person that we want to be is possible. Working from the basis of change being the only constant, I have found that the most effective way to realize such changes in ourselves is to do so in relationship with others. Together we can explore whatever transition you are experiencing as an opportunity for transforming your life. The therapeutic relationship is a unique way to see what is possible for ourselves with guidance and support. Areas of exploration include supportive structure, commitments, communication, boundaries, needs, emotions, feelings, resourcing, the three brain approach (body, heart, mind), mindfulness practices. Work with adolescents often includes direct support of parents as well.

Learn More

Brain Injuries

As someone who has had Minor Traumatic Brain Injuries (MTBI) myself, I have a unique experiential understanding of the immense and confounding challenges of being in the world with an altered brain and mind. Out of my own experience and healing, I support others in claiming the new reality of their lives. Together we explore how you can navigate the world in a more efficient, effective, satisfying, and compassionate way. Out of your experience of your brain changing we can transform you into a change agent and empower you to learn how to work with your own brain.

Learn More

About Rex

My work is grounded in mindfulness-based psychotherapy, transpersonal psychology, the PACT psychobiological approach to couples therapy, somatic/body-centered approaches, family constellations, Gestalt, systems dynamics, modern attachment theory, and grief work.

More about me