Keith Miller, LICSW
Keith Miller Counseling
Personal Biography and Introduction
Fees and Payment
Appointment Hours
Insurance
Cancellation and Inclimate Weather Policy
Office policies & Forms for New Clients
PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY AND INTRODUCTION
I am a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, Certified Imago Relationship Therapist, and a certified therapist/coach of Self-Leadership using the Internal Family Systems Model. I have worked in mental health and psychotherapy for twelve years in a variety of settings and have trained closely with nationally renowned experts in the fields of individual and couples psychotherapy. I’m the author of Love Under Repair: How to Save Your Marriage and Survive Couples Therapy, a book I wrote after the experience of my own marital crisis transformed the way I look at how couples therapy is done today. When I was looking for my own couples therapist, I found out firsthand how incredibly difficult it is to find a couples therapist that integrates the latest understanding of attachment-based therapy with common-sense, practical solutions. After getting the help we needed, I decided to share how to navigate the process of finding a highly qualified couples therapist that is the best fit for your situation. My work with couples incorporates what I’ve found to be the “most effective of the most effective” methods for helping relationships thrive and heal. For this reason I consider myself a highly experienced relationship specialist. Using a blend of mindfulness-based concepts and structured behavioral therapy, I’m familiar with helping couples deal with some of the most common and most difficult relationship issues such as resentment, incompatibility, communication issues, infidelity, lack of passion or emotional connection, sexual frustration, parenting conflicts and “gridlock” disagreements. I find that the kind of approach to helping couples that has the most success is one that focuses both on your relationship to each other and your relationship to yourself. Many couples therapy experiences leans too heavily toward healing the relationship or healing yourself as an individual. I believe you’ll find that I’m able to assess quickly where our focus should be so you’re not left feeling like you have to find your way out of the fog of by yourself. Individual Therapy and Coaching
I love to work with individuals in therapy or coaching and can help you build your own ability to change emotional states or behaviors that seem highly resistant to change. After noticing how many of my clients struggled to get better with traditional talk therapy, I devoted many years to studying and fine-tuning the method that I now use, based on mindfulness. My approach doesn’t involve chanting “Om” while sitting on a cushion with closed eyes. Rather, I’ll teach you to pay attention to your thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations and view them neutrally, without assigning an emotional value that they are strongly positive or negative. The idea is to allow parts of the prefrontal cortex to lessen activity in the amygdala, which is responsible for evaluating threats. This helps reduce the likelihood you will over/under-react and enhances your ability to see potential solutions to problems. Research supporting the use of mindfulness is especially noteworthy in medicine and psychiatry. The power of our brain to inhibit pain, regulate fear, and heal physical tissue damage is scientifically shown to be as effective as powerful drugs or invasive surgeries. You can view a huge collection of these articles, videos and resources on mindfulness here. I’ll incorporate mindfulness in a systematic way with you that’s highly efficient at getting to the root of issues without recycling old biases that have outlasted their usefulness in your life. In my opinion, this is the most common limitation of cognitive or analytical therapies. Some people are naturally averse to or attracted to mindfulness because for years it’s been associated with spiritual or religious practices. I’m highly familiar with the overlap between religious practices and the effects of mindfulness. In fact, I hold an undergraduate degree in Christian religious studies. However, I’m most comfortable teaching the secular/scientific version of mindfulness taught in the U.S. for nearly five decades. The specific areas I have expertise in treating are:
Getting free from depression and anxiety
Panic attacks
Stress-related health physical issues such as back and shoulder pain, GI symptoms, weight gain
Compulsive or addictive behaviors
Sexual issues such as low desire or frustration with partner with much higher or much lower libido
Healing from divorce and safeguarding your new relationship
Even if you have no prior experience with so-called “experiential psychotherapy” or mindfulness, I enjoy finding ways for you to use these powerful methods in a way that feels comfortable to you. If you’re unsure if this method is right for you I’m happy to discuss it with you prior to our first meeting.
