Brooks Milam, LCSW

In my experience, many of my patients are disconnected from their physical bodies, unable to truly experience their emotions, living in survival mode using strategies for coping with stress they developed in early childhood. Regardless, I believe the patient must direct the therapeutic work, though oftentimes patients are overwhelmed, knowing they are unhappy, but not sure where to begin. I work with my patients to identify some present day stressors and find strategies to either ameliorate these distractions or reframe their struggles to empower the patient. As patients begin experiencing some successes in their day-to-day and as the therapeutic relationship develops, oftentimes the patient begins to feel safe, they will gradually bring up the deeper painful work.

During an intake I like to prepare the patient for the types of questions they will be asked, assure them they are encouraged to advocate for their needs during this session, while also letting them know we’ve got time and this is just a bird’s eye view of their life. Many of my patients have expressed renewed desire to experience life, a sense of confidence they have the skills and awareness to seek connection and support from peers and loved ones. Patients have shared an improvement in life circumstances or at minimum a greater confidence in their capacity to navigate life on life’s terms.

My patients have reported feeling supported, understood, and fully accepted with issues and anxieties about which they’ve previously been too fearful to acknowledge. “I’ve never been able to talk about … before” or “I never thought to tell anyone about…” are phrases I’ve heard repeatedly.