What You Can Expect From Therapy

An overarching principle behind my approach to healing is helping individuals discover and draw upon their inner wisdom. I am a gentle guide who helps you tune into your own strengths and resilience to facilitate sustainable, in-depth healing. I offer both traditional and alternative interventions and treatment strategies, and I deeply believe there is something profoundly therapeutic about realizing and trusting in one’s own uniqueness. 

Conflicting messages about success and identity—that often begin in childhood and are reinforced by society—overemphasize individuality and commoditization and seek to place us into preordained roles around gender, class, sexual identity, and race to name a few.

While such a categorization creates a level of efficiency and, for some, comfort, the underlying reality of social constraint is that it coerces us to abandon that which makes us unique and dynamic individuals. When we lose touch with our true self, we feel unhappy, unfulfilled, and uncomfortable in our own skins. Anxiety, depression, anger, and addictive behaviors can flourish when we are at odds with ourselves. It’s my purpose to help clients challenge the limitations that social norms, gender roles, and personal expectations create so that they have greater access to contentment and develop the capacity to reach their full potential.

I consider safety to be therapy’s number one priority. When you feel safe, you can be open and honest—not just with your therapist, but with yourself. In our sessions, I’ll help you move past roles and automated responses that society expects so that you can discover new truths about who you are and what you really want. I offer you a deeper awareness and understanding of yourself that goes beyond learned or manufactured responses that may have protected you in the past. 

I strive to help each of my clients honor their intrinsic divineness. I recognize the importance and benefit of nourishing the spiritual being within each of us. There is a deeper self that seeks to express itself, and I facilitate people’s ability to get in touch with all aspects of the self. For example, there are aspects of our being assigned to gender that, in truth, transcend it. Intentionally or not, our culture creates rules and norms that stifle the subtler aspects of those voices. In that regard, counseling has the unique ability to help people get in touch with the intuition, creativity, playfulness, assertiveness, courage, and self-compassion that may have been abandoned or untapped in the past.

In our work together, we will identify therapy goals that are unique to you in order to create an effective treatment plan. We will explore: What motivates your thoughts and behaviors? How did you learn to express emotions, and how do you resolve conflict? What triggers fear, and how do you respond to adversity? Simply understanding the reasons and motivations behind one’s actions, thoughts, and beliefs can open the door to healing. 

Some of the methods that inform my approach are EMDR Therapy, Hakomi Body-Centered Therapy, and Somatic Experiencing, all of which help to reduce or overcome debilitating stress, anxiety, and trauma symptoms that may include PTSD. I also support interfaith beliefs and practices and employ body-centered and mindfulness techniques for helping clients stay grounded during times of distress. Where beneficial, I encourage non-verbal strategies, such as art therapy, poetry and journaling, focusing, and somatic techniques to create a treatment program that really speaks to who you are and what you need. 

For couples, I employ communication tools for building greater empathy and resolving conflicts peacefully. Depending on the situation, I may use Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy to help identify patterns of attachment and explore unique ways to build trust and safe emotional connections. I also use grounding, visualization, meditation, and relational dynamics that can support couples working through difficulties. There is a way to break old patterns, challenge false self-perceptions, and develop new, more positive ways of experiencing life. My greatest influences are Carl Rogers, Stanley Keleman, Sue Johnson, Carol Gilligan, Terry Real, and Richard Schultz.

Treatment for each client is individualized with early sessions focusing on creating safety and assessing baseline functioning from nervous system and interpersonal perspectives. Later sessions are attuned to helping clients develop and actuate skills and apply them in the real world. In the long-term, I help people be more accepting of themselves and more authentic with others, accessing and manifesting their true natures. In doing so, they can skillfully access their potential, reconnect with their creativity, and navigate any challenges or transitions that life may present. Once clients feel safe enough to face themselves, instead of turning away, they can access grace and begin living from a place of gratitude and compassion.

I Invite You To Learn More

To find out more about my practice or approach to helping individuals and couples, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. Please call me at 608-561-8821 to set up your free consultation or initial appointment.

Will Hector (he/him) graduated from John F Kennedy University in the San Francisco Bay Area with a master’s degree in Somatic Counseling Psychology. He has trained in Psycho-Physical Therapy, Hakomi Body-Centered Psychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Internal Family Systems, Focusing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Will has also trained with the Center for Energetic Studies, the EMDR Institute, Joanna Macy’s “Work That Reconnects,” and the Relational Life Institute. He is an avid yogi, musician, and life-long student who loves exploring the inner workings of the human relationship with self and other. Will is currently furthering his therapeutic training in Somatic Experiencing, a body-centered approach to resolving trauma. Will is a cisgendered male cognizant of the prevailing and historic cultural patriarchy.