WELCOME

ABOUT MY APPROACH

Judith Schaeffer-Benoît LMFT; LCSW

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Welcome to my site.

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Many people I have seen over the years seek treatment for various reasons: to help improve their relationships (friends, partner, other family, work), to learn to cope with the relentless grip of grief from loss; to manage lifecycle challenges that surprise, shatter or engulf them; or to help clarify new paths they wish to forge.  My job is to help you navigate such challenges, while empowering you to discover your own wisdom and to trust the decisions you will make in your future and accept the circumstances of your past. 

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My Philosophy:

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Seeking Treatment takes courage and risk. It is a balance of stillness and fearlessness, and a quality in an individual/couple I gather great respect for, and strive to honor.  A strong therapeutic foundation is rooted in trust and respect for the self-knowledge of the individual, and a deep compassion demonstrated by the clinician. My background may provide you with some reference as to how I work, but ultimately it is your knowing that will determine if this therapeutic relationship will connect with the path you are seeking. I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions about how I work and if my philosophy would be the right fit for you.

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I was trained initially as a systemic therapist (Bowen Therapy), meaning, I perceive the influences in our lives as more than just our individual experiences, but part of a larger inter-dependent network of experiences that help define our values and beliefs: family, culture, religion, spiritual. I have come to understand that these experiences have been internalized through our senses and via multi-generational transmission. I believe that all of these experiences influence our lives and our relationships with others. Some of these experiences are easily integrated and adapted into our life puzzle because of the ease of symmetrical fitting, whereas, some of these experiences challenge the completion of this puzzle because of their incongruent shapes. All of these experiences are of great value in developing who we become. Crisis brings opportunity and growth, for without this, we remain homogenized or rather, one dimensional. The more complex our experiences are can result in a more complicated puzzle. But, the beauty of our life's design lies in the weaving of experiences that form a distinct and unique pattern.  

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My formal training was completed at the University of London, Institute of Psychiatry (MSC in Family Therapy) and at Rutgers University (MSW). I have received further training in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Gottman Couple Therapy, Sleep Disorders, Meditation, Psychoanalytic Family Therapy, Gestalt, Equine Assisted Experiential Therapy and Astropsychology.  I am specialized in Couple Therapy (straight, gay and lesbian), Sleep Disorders, Anxiety, Bereavement, Lifecycle Transition and Trauma including combat and war trauma. I have worked in many areas of specialty and in many areas of the industry for over thirty years.

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Lastly, as an artist, I respect the individual differences that one designs one’s world with and hope to help assist you in creating your own sense of mastery within it.