Elizabeth Schimpff, LMFT

EMDR is the most cost effective treatment for PTSD!!

Let nature soothe your soul. - Connecting with nature is one of the best ways to de-stress and relieve anxiety. - With all the time we spend indoors, in front of screens, it’s no wonder we are all wound up inside.... - Get outside! - Go for a walk in the woods. Hug a tree, or lean on one at least. Walk barefoot and connect with the Earth. Smell some flowers. Soak your feet in a stream. Swim in the ocean. - Feel the energy of nature as it calms your nervous system. - Mother nature is full of yummy goodness. Go outside and get you some! - #ecotherapy #anxietyrelief #grounding #anxietytool #stressrelief #thousandoakstherapist See more

Oh, hello Monday. - Take a moment to breathe in deeply and connect with your inner self. - It’s Monday. You’re likely feeling stressed as you look at the week ahead. So much to do, to get done before Friday.... - What if we took a different approach? - First, reflecting on gratitude. - Being grateful to have a job you GET to go to each Monday. Grateful for the tasks your employer trusts you with. Grateful for that food in the fridge you GET to prepare for your family. Grateful for that laundry you GET to wash with the washing machine you’re lucky to own. Grateful for that bed to fall into at the end of a long day. - Then, looking at the week with intention. What are your intentions for the week? What would make you feel that the week was a success? - What do you need so that all parts of you feel supported? How can you tend to those parts throughout the week to prevent burnout? - Approaching the week with gratitude, intention, and self love changes the way we feel. Moving us from stress and overwhelm to a place of support and compassion. - Double tap if you needed this reminder today! - Have a great week y’all! - - - #mindfulreminders #gratitude #intention #selfcompassion #thousandoakstherapist See more

I’M GRATEFUL FOR MY BUSY, FULL LIFE! - Anytime a friend asks how have you been?... my immediate response is BUSY! - Can you relate? ... - I got to thinking tonight... I’m always so freakin busy! But, I’m GRATEFUL for my busy life. - Being busy means I have a full time, thriving career, I have friends and family who I love spending time with, I am committed to maintaining my physical fitness by exercising consistently, I am learning to play a musical instrument, and I get to go do fun things on the weekends with my amazing husband. And, even though I’m not a super huge fan of cooking and cleaning... I have food to cook and a beautiful home to clean. - On top of that, I’m always trying to squeeze more into my crazy schedule. I want to surf, hike, do more yoga, travel, learn hip hop dancing, read ALL THE BOOKS, take all the CE trainings... my list is endless. - I am LIVING! And it’s amazing. Yes, it’s busy and tiring... but I wouldn’t have it any other way. - Next time you find yourself complaining about your busy life, try practicing GRATITUDE for all the things you have in your life that keep you so busy! - #thousandoakstherapist #gratitude #busylife See more

Often times, children don’t have the words to express how they’re feeling, so they act out. They also haven’t developed the emotional coping skills to manage the big feelings they experience. Rather than punishing them for behavior that they haven’t developed the ability to control, they need us to help them identify what they’re feeling, learn new ways to express their feelings, and new ways to cope. https://www.motherjones.com//schools-behavior-discipline-/

YOU ARE ENOUGH! - Yes. You! - Just as you are, in THIS MOMENT.... - Take a moment to give yourself some credit for all that you do. - We are so caught up in the busy-ness of life. Always feeling like we are falling short. Always feeling like we need to do more, have more, and be more. - While striving for more in life and seeking out growth are wonderful practices to be in, we can't forget to honor ourselves for where we are at in the process. - Take some time today to acknowledge all that you do and all that you are. - You are a divine being worthy of love. Worthy of YOUR LOVE. - #SelfLove #SelfCompassion #HonorYourself #ThousandOaksTherapist #TraumaTherapist #TraumaRecovery #MentalWellness See more

Trauma stems from the Greek word for wound. - Trauma is an emotional wound. - Wounds which can be created by horrific events, but also by seemingly normal life experiences.... - Yes, most of us are aware of trauma in the sense of war veterans, natural disasters, sexual assault, or physical abuse. - But, wounds are created by smaller events as well. - The baby who is left to cry it out when what he needs is connection and nurturing from his parent. - The child who is seeking attention from a parent who is working two jobs to make ends meet. - At the core of most mental health issues is some form of trauma, most often experienced during childhood. - - - #thousandoakstherapist #traumatherapist #emdrtherapist See more

WHAT MEDITATION IS REALLY LIKE. - If I had a dollar for every time a client said to me, I can’t meditate because I think too much. I can’t shut my mind off, I’d be a rich rich woman. - I like to think of meditation as exercising my brain.... - No one waits to start lifting weights until they’re really buff and strong... BECAUSE IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY! - Meditation is a way that we can train our minds to slow down, to settle, and to be more calm. - What most people think meditation is: A state of being completely calm Clearing your mind of all thoughts Going into an altered state of consciousness A religious practice Involves chanting or visualization Time consuming - What meditation is actually like: Uncomfortable Your mind bounces from thought to thought, and slowly over time you get better at bringing your attention back to the point of focus. Is beneficial even if you only do 5-10 minutes per day. Is not religious. All it requires is present-moment awareness, which is universal for all beings. Can be as simple as focusing on your breath (no chanting required). - The idea for this post came to me as I was meditating this afternoon. I’ve been a novice meditator for 10+ years, and guess what, my mind still jumps all over the place. I’ve just learned to have compassion for my busy mind and welcome back my attention every time I come back to the moment. - - - #thousandoakstherapist #traumatherapy #mindfulness #meditation See more

Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happened to you. Really great article on trauma and how it impacts nearly all of us on some level. https://humanwindow.com/dr-gabor-mate-interview-childhood-/

What is EMDR??? - EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. SAY WHAT?!?! - That’s a lot of big words mashed together, which make no sense.... - Put very simply, it is a type of therapy, which we have found to be incredibly useful at helping people heal from upsetting past experiences. Now, if that explanation is enough for you, you can stop here. But, if you are a brainiac who likes to have a deeper understanding of how things work and you must know read on for my attempt to break it down in somewhat simple terms for you. - When we experience a traumatic or adverse life event, the memory is not stored in the brain properly like other memories. Think of something relatively benign, like what you had for lunch yesterday. Now, as long as nothing significant happened during lunch, you’re very unlikely to have any emotional or physiological response to thinking about what you had for lunch. However, if something upsetting happened during lunch, like you witnessed a crime being committed while eating your salad, you are likely to have strong emotional and physiological reactions to thinking about this memory (such as intense fear, anxiety, racing heart, sweaty palms, shaky hands, etc). - What we have found is that traumatic memory gets stored improperly, so that it is frozen in time with the same emotional, cognitive, and physiological reactions that we experienced at the time of the event. - In order to properly recover from a traumatic event, we need to allow the brain to reprocess the memory, so that it can get stored in the brain properly. - By incorporating bilateral (side to side) eye movements, the brain is stimulated in such a way that it helps to reprocess memories which haven’t been stored properly in the brain. - Every night when you sleep, you go through phases of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. It is during this phase of sleep that we believe memories from the prior day are consolidated (stored away properly in the brain). - What we have found, is that eye movements help to reprocess memory and store it in a more adaptive/functional way. - - - #emdr #emdrtherapist #thousandoaks #thousandoakstherapist #traumatherapy #traumarecovery See more

Hi! It’s been awhile, so I figured I’d introduce myself. - I’m a therapist, specializing in the treatment of trauma, addictive disorders, and eating disorders. - I help people of all ages 3 and up, heal from their past and start living happy, joyous, and peaceful lives.... - I utilize the most effective therapeutic modalities to help my clients create lasting change in their lives, in as short of time as possible. - No more sitting in therapy for years and years talking about how your week went. - Rather, I’m here to help you dig deep, clear out the junk from the past, learn new tools, and create lasting change in your life. - My greatest joy is witnessing others heal, recover, and become the best versions of themselves. - In addition to my individual work with clients, I’m also looking at adding value through social media and other online means (possibly an online course or program). - I’d love to hear from you what you’d find most helpful and valuable? Topics? Questions you have? - Check out the link in my bio for my brand new website!! - Stay tuned! More to come! See more

It all starts with compassion for ourselves. - How does it feel to give yourself compassion? This tends to be extremely challenging for most of us. It takes practice. - Some simple practices to start:... Give yourself a hug. Write down 5 things you did well today. Take a bubble bath. Do a loving kindness meditation. Do some gentle yoga and practice accepting where your body is at today. Do some form of movement that feels good (walk, dance, stretch, run, bike, hike, hula hoop...) - How do you practice self-compassion? - - - #westlakevillagetherapist #thousandoakstherapist #therapist #selfcompassion #pemachodron #loveyourself #selflove See more