Psychotherapy (​psyche = breath, spirit, or soul; therapeia = healing) can be defined in many ways, though at its most fundamental is the process of gaining awareness of unconscious parts of our psychological life and becoming able to enact change in the context of a relationship. Through trusting someone enough to be truly honest, we can begin to recognize the unconscious patterns that may be interfering with how we meet our emotional needs.

A powerful truism in social work is "all behavior makes sense with enough information." Our childhood and past relationships have undoubtedly shaped our beliefs, expectations, and attitudes about ourselves, others, and the world. Keeping this in mind, we can approach our personal difficulties sensibly and compassionately.  By acknowledging and remaining aware of how these relationships have shaped our development and perception, we can make better sense of reality and how to move through it with more clarity, compassion, effectiveness, creativity, and joy.