Measurable PSYCHOLOGICAL change
through neurological restructuring.
Welcome to Phoenix Rises Counseling. I am Veronika Stutz, LMHC.
Please call me Vivi.
I believe it can be done.
CHANGE IS IN OUR NATURE. THE BODY IS DESIGNED TO ADAPT, GROW AND HEAL. THE BRAIN POSSESSES NEUROPLASTICITY - THE ABILITY TO GROW OR REORGANIZE NEURAL NETWORKS. WE ARE MADE TO CONTINUE ADAPTING TO OUR ENVIRONMENT; PHYSICALLY, STRUCTURALLY, NEUROLOGICALLY, AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY.
I am an EMDRIA-certified EMDR therapist. I specialize in trauma, and I conceptualize symptoms through a trauma-informed lens.
WE CAN ENGAGE THE INNATE ADAPTABILITY OF OUR BRAINS AND NERVOUS SYSTEMS FOR NATURAL HEALING.
I am an experienced guide with a powerful lantern. I know a way out of the dark tunnel because I've been there many times. I know that the scary shadows on the walls can't hurt you if we flash my lantern and pass by them, leaving the past where it belongs.
I'll take your hand, and I won't let go unless you want me to. We’ll walk together until you safely reach the light.
This is where I can assist you best:
MY PERSONAL BACKGROUND AND LIVED EXPERIENCE
I believe in the resilience of the human spirit.
I was born and raised in Germany, and I worked as an actress, singer, and musician. I came to Los Angeles by myself at age 24 to study acting. I had no work permit, and I started as a cleaning woman in youth hostels for room and board.
While I fully acknowledge that being a caucasian woman offers me undue privilege, I experienced rejection by white Anglo-Saxon Americans based on my lack of fluency in English, lack of money and stable housing, and lack of a car. Native Americans and Black people who understood exclusion welcomed me and helped me survive the first few years in the United States. However, I experienced enormous kindness and generosity by Caucasian Americans in the years to follow as well. I believe that I can relate through lived experience to being an immigrant, being in between cultures, cultural loss, rejection by the majority, the sense of not belonging anywhere fully, and the sheer necessity of being supported by members of the dominant culture.
I am where I am today due to random acts of kindness by strangers who I met along the way.
On a student work visa, I began working in Los Angeles as a background actor, formerly called an “extra”. I obtained a green card and built a holistic personal training and health coaching business called Transformations, where I worked from 2000 - 2019 while I financed a Bachelor’s degree and two Master’s degrees. I didn’t qualify for a student loan on a green card.
I believe that adversity doesn’t need to break us but can activate seemingly superhuman power. I believe that we can rise above obstacles even if the odds are against us if we have grit, a vision, and kindness of heart.
I gained experience as a Marriage and Family therapist intern in Los Angeles from 2013-2014 while working at Transformations and flying back and forth between the US and Germany, but had to quit for financial reasons. Working as an intern in California was unpaid and unsustainable.
It took me until age 49, when Transformations closed its doors due to Covid and a beloved friend stepped in to help, that I could transition from Personal trainer and Health coach to full-time Mental Health Counselor.
It is my intention to give back and help individuals and groups with the love and kindness I received when I most needed it.
I now have dual citizenship, German and American. I am fluent in both languages even though English is easier for me.
I will not relate to you as a German or an American, but a cultural mutt and global citizen who moved between 2 contients. Most of all, I will relate to you as a person no matter who you are.
i BELIEVE IN HEALING TRAUMA
Working as a therapist who specializes in trauma and alleviating its suffering is rooted in my history. My parents were children of WWII and experienced the bombings of Germany. They hid in bunkers, subway stations, and basements of houses hit by bombs. They witnessed events no child should ever see. My grandmothers were widows in their twenties at a time when over 2 million women were raped by occupying forces. One grandmother was a refugee from a region that is Poland today. She walked for 3 months through the snow with a 5-year old child and a baby to reach Berlin, only to experience the fall of Berlin in April of 1945. I thought it was normal that adults jump and startle at a sudden noise, such as a spoon falling off a table. I thought it was normal that adults couldn’t calm down until the next day, battled uncontrollable emotions, and didn’t talk about their traumatic experiences even though I could see the unspeakable suffering beneath the surface. I know trauma from the inside out, and I know the damage untreated trauma can do to families. It can even be passed down the generations.
Working to heal trauma is not only work but a personal mission.
In my free time, I live and travel by-continentally and bi-culturally with my husband and six terribly spoiled rescue animals. I used to be a professional actress, dancer, and singer in Germany and the US. I’m still a certified personal trainer. I write and publish books, design and create jewelry, paint, read, meditate, practice mindfulness and non-denominational spirituality, exercise at the gym, bake traditional German and Austrian cakes, and grow an indoor jungle. I enjoy long nature hikes, the beach, or exploring new cities with my equally curious husband. I hope to carve out time to buy a piano, remember to play it, and belt so loudly that my neighbors start a GoFundMe campaign to send me back to the US.
SEE MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL
THE TRAUMA THERAPY LIFERAFT
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MORE ABOUT MY SERVICES AND PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
You are not broken. There is nothing wrong with you. You did the best you knew how to do. You did the best you could to keep yourself safe.
You are lovable. You are worthy. There is nothing you need to do to earn love.
Maybe life was harsh or unkind at times. Maybe you lost your way for a moment. But inside of you, there is a knowing. It knows who you are, what you are meant to be, and how to get there.
Hard times hurt, but hardship harbors opportunity for invaluable growth. It may just be a stepping stone to discover your potential and unearth your true nature.
I am here to assist you in finding the way back to yourself, where you always have been and always will be WHOLE.
I hold a vision in which every gender or sexual orientation, every ethnicity, every alternative lifestyle or relationship style, every religion or spiritual belief system, every body size and age, every neuro-divergence, and everyone else who doesn't fit the normative experience
is free to express itself without judgment or oppression.
I stand by Article 1 of the Grundgesetz, German constitutional law: "Human dignity is inviolable. ... The German people therefore acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every community, of peace and justice in the world. .
Trauma doesn't mean you're broken, it means life happened to you. Now we are going to make sense of it in a way that leaves you stronger than you were before.
EMDR TREATMENT
EMDR is best known as an evidence-based treatment for trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, developed by Dr. Francis Shapiro.
However, a trauma does not need to be "big" in order to be hurtful or debilitating.
Automatic and maladaptive responses may be based on traumatic experiences that appear relatively insignificant or are long forgotten. A traumatic memory can be anything that frightened or disturbed us, and overwhelmed the brain's innate ability to process the event. The unprocessed memory becomes lodged in the psyche and triggers fear or a flight-or-flight response when a current incident resembles the initial fright.
Unprocessed memories may explain why we repeatedly make certain choices even though we know they doesn't work for us, experience inexplicable or seemingly irrational fear, choose serial ill-suited partnerships, stay in unsatisfying occupations, numb ourselves with substances, avoid places or situations, or feel helpless like a child despite our biological age.
Other treatable but difficult-to-unearth manifestations of PTSD may be Complex PTSD, which is likely brought upon by chronic childhood stress, abusive family constellations or traumatic relationship syndrome. Additionally, we may even experience transgenerational trauma; traumatic memories that appear as real as our own but have their origin in previous generations.
EMDR is a technique of retrieving and processing memories through a series of eye-movements that mimick REM sleep. The brain can then move frightful events from "pending" status in its trauma centers to other parts of the brain that store successfully met stressors of the past. By "recognizing" and "filing away" unprocessed memories, maladaptive or unhelpful responses may seize.
INDUCED AFTER-DEATH COMMUNICATION
IADC was discoverd in 1995 by Dr. Botkin of the Dr. Botkin Institute when administering EMDR to Vietnam War veterans at a VA hospital. A variation and addition of eye movements presented clients who reported audible, visual or tactile encounters with the traumatically deceased, which in turn resolved clients' chronic grief and depression. Some clients received information they did not know previously, and could validate the accuracy.
While clinicians cannot claim these encounters are evidence of an afterlife, the technique is thought to be a highly effective treatment for grief. If there is no such thing as an afterlife or a continuity of consciousness, perhaps the human brain has an innate ability to conjure up multi-sensory imagery that brings incomplete experiences with a deceased loved one to a close
IADC can also be applied as experiential spirituality, when death and loss bring forth a spiritual and existential crisis
It is my personal hope that After-Death Communication is the future of healing grief.
PERSON-CENTERED MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING
Person-centered mental health counseling is a highly relational and personalized approach to engaging in the therapeutic process. Its idea was conceived by Carl Rogers, sometimes referred to as the father of Humanistic Psychology
While various counseling techniques can be incorporated, a person-centered approach builds the foundation and leaves the lead to the client. The therapeutic relationship is a collaborative process that enhances and supports your self-knowledge, your choices, your needs and your pace. It meets you where you are, and nurtures your beingness.
In Carl Rogers' humanistic view, a person is like an apple seed. A seed carries within itself all the information to become what it was meant to be. It will aspire to give life to itself in any circumstance. It will grow into an apple tree.
Perhaps the conditions of your life have not supported the growth inherent in the seed, but the directions are still accessible and it is not too late.
In humanistic psychology, the question is not "What is wrong with you?", but "What happened to you?", and "What can we do so you can re-align with who you truly are?"
Within a person-centered approach, we have the freedom to try on different counseling techniques and find what fits for you. This freedom is borne from respect for your uniqueness.It is within a relationship that the Self we wish to unearth is seen, affirmed, and validated so it can flourish. A Person-centered therapeutic alliance can offer such a relationship dynamic, until you are ready to find more relationships that reflect and honor your true Self.
SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY
Within the framework of Spiritual Psychology, we view ourselves not as human beings who have souls, but "souls having and using a human experience for the purpose of awakening to our essential nature". Our essential nature is the presence of love.
We go through life with a soul-centered perspective, in which "how you relate to the issue is the issue, or how you relate to yourself while you go through the issue is the issue - it is also the opportunity". (Drs. Ron & Mary at the University of Santa Monica)
Obstacles, problems, pain and hurt in our life become vehicles to clear and update limiting beliefs about ourselves and others, as "Perception is edited observation," (David Hawkins). The editing is done by our Ego, its personal belief system and our interpretation of past experiences.
“Problems are no longer in the way, they are the way" to show us where we must heal to reclaim our essential loving nature. A problem then becomes an opportunity for healing and awakening, and so does our hurt.
Our essential nature is loving, as loving is all that is left once anger and hurt dissipate, and we are thriving versus survivin
"Healing is the application of loving to the places inside that are hurt."
Through the practice of Spiritual Psychology, we learn Compassionate Self-Forgiveness as an ongoing discipline of releasing judgments that hold us prisoner within our own minds, and reframing these judgments into perceptions that support well-being and self-honoring choice
Taking responsibility does not mean blaming the victim. We are not at fault for what happened to us. We rather derive meaning from what happened by learning to love ourselves, others, and life.
We were never broken.
We merely forgot or misinterpreted who we are, and are now using our experience to remember. In this rememberance, wholeness returns. In our wholeness, we experience the qualities of our essential nature in relationship to ourselves and others more often - love, joy, exuberance, compassion, acceptance, and peace, to name only a few. We are able to whole-heartedly love ourselves, others and the process of life. We are able to say a whole-hearted "yes" to our experience, past and presence, and go forth fully participating in and co-creating our reality.
The process of forgetting, healing and remembering is not an indication that we lost our way, or that there is or was something wrong with us, but that we are embracing and working our Spiritual Curriculum. We consider that we came to the Earth School for a reason. The soul is beckoning. We open the doors wide for the growth that is available to us.
In the practice of Spiritual Psychology, we release ourselves from self-victimization by accepting "what is" and taking responsibility for our judgments and our previous choices, which then frees us to make new and different choices from a neutral versus an emotionally charged perspective.
Releasing emotionally charged perspectives empowers us to interrupt the cycles of conditioned responses, let go of anger, heal the hurt, and find peace.As we heal, we experience change naturally, as previous coping mechanisms are no longer needed.
We aim to be at peace and in the loving with ourselves, and lead a life of authentic self-expression and mutually supportive relationships
Wholeness does not mean life will always be Disneyland, but we learn to view grief or suffering through the lens of self-compassion, wisdom and continued growth. In a spiritual context, we may call this process of healing "awakening" to our true nature as souls of a loving essence. The loving essence is the very fabric we are made of, originating from and eventually returning to divine Source.
For more information about the practice of Spiritual Psychology as developed by Drs. Ron & Mary Hulnick, workshops, events, or the online Soul-Centered Living program, please visit https://www.universityofsantamonica.edu/, or see recommended reading and links to educational videos on the Resources page.
MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness is a practice of Buddhist origin, which can be incorporated into various therapeutic approaches. Its adaptation does not require a spiritual orientation.
It may include meditation- ,relaxation-, visualization-, or affirmation techniques, or the discovery of personal, self-nurturing practices that bring us into full awareness of the here and now. We calm our thoughts, quiet the mind, still the body or relax it through deliberate movement, until we are able to experience the present moment.
Through mindfulness, we are able to release anxiety and possibly ease depression. We become conscious. We go through life consciously experiencing, versus blindly reacting from conditioned or habitual patterns.
As our awareness increases, we realize that we have choice. We are not our thoughts, and we are not our feelings. A thought causes feelings, but a thought is not necessarily true. Neither is a feeling.
Mindfulness may awaken us to discernment, in which we can decipher random or habitual thoughts and their associated feelings from authentic truth and intuitive insight.
Mindfulness is not an attempt to passively accept the unacceptable, but to clear the mind and become present to our auhentic feelings so we can stand in our truth.
Inside of you, there is a knowing. To access this knowing, you must listen. To listen, you must become still.
Mindfulness is a foundational skill to achieve inner freedom and agency over who we are and what we want to be.
HEALING TRAUMA, one heart at a time, IS MY CALLING AND MY MISSION.
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I’m trained in a variety of therapy methods, allowing me to tailor my approach to your unique goals and needs. These include:
Person-centered, humanistic, Rogerian approach
EMDR certified by EMDRIA
EMDR: Early Trauma Protocol (as taught by Sandra Paulsen)
Gestalt therapy
Ego States therapy
Rational Emotive Behavior therapy
Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral therapy
Mindfulness practices
Psychosynthesis
Reality therapy
EMDR-based Induced After-Death Communication grief therapy
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Master of Arts in Spiritual Psychology (unaccredited), University of Santa Monica, 2002-2004, 2006-2007
Master of Arts in Psychology with an Emphasis in Marriage and Family therapy (accredited), California Southern University, 2011-2014
Pre-licensed Marriage and Family therapy intern, Los Angeles, 2013-2014
Mental Health Conselor associate, Washington, 2020-2024
Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Washington, 3/2024, license #LH61526615
Certified EMDR therapist by EMDRIA, 5/2024
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Spiritual Psychology, MA, 2004
EMDR, EMDRIA certified, 2024
IADC/ EMDR-based Induced After-Death Communication therapy for grief, 2024
Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, 2014
Heal your Heart. Live with Ease. Thrive with confidence.
I help creative professionals understand how traumatic past events manifest as emotional problems in the present. Together, we rewrite old scripts and exit negative cycles through neurological change.
You can move from “making it through the day” to “flourishing emotionally” even if it seemed impossible before, too time-consuming, too painful, ineffective, and too disruptive.
working together is simple.
THE PROCESS OF THERAPY
1) Preparation: ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT PLAN
Generally, we will meet 1-2x per week for 60-90 minutes at your appointed time.
For the first 2 sessions, we meet for 90 minutes to complete an assessment together, identify a diagnosis if you want one (unless you’re an insurance client, then we must add a diagnosis), identify your goals, and make a treatment plan.
2) The beginning stage: Playing puzzle
We get to know each other until we know and trust each other. Since we don’t want to waste any time, we’ll start by spilling all the puzzle pieces of your life on the table. We’ll look at each piece and see how they all fit together until we have a coherent picture.
We’ll start an EMDR case conceptualization and possibly do a brief demo of how EMDR works.
We may use Gestalt therapy/parts work/Ego States therapy. You’ll playfully give different personality parts, thoughts, feelings, or memories a voice until your entire inner committee feels heard and understood. It’s a bit like role-playing or theater, and it saves you from “talking about it”. You’ll just … spill it. I’ll show you and support you, and we make it fun. Of course, I’ll always be open to your feedback, and you don’t have to use interventions you don’t like.
We may learn cognitive-behavioral strategies and behavioral supports as necessary, such as learning Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills by workbook or groups, or creating action-plans to begin changing habits.
We’ll engage in EMDR resourcing, which means strengthening the part of you that is wise, capable, skilled, heroic, resilient, and so very lovable and worthy.
3) The intermediate stage: Detective work
We’ll start the detective work of seeking the needle in the haystack, which we do by riding feelings back in time to the earliest time you remember feeling this way. We may give parts a voice again to find out what “decisions” you made about life at a time when you were too young to know the final truth about life. We’ll identify limiting beliefs that may have kept you safe at the time but are no longer needed.
We’ll identify negative core beliefs about yourself that are associated to traumatic experiences.
From here, we’ll either continue parts work and engage in Healing of Memories or self-parenting, move into EMDR processing, or alternate and mix modalities depending on what works best for you.
4) The end stage: The Harvest
We continue EMDR processing until you report no symptoms, we see behaviors change positively, you reached your goals, we measure your progress on a scale from 0-10, and we determine that you have achieved significant change.
When we are certain that you are satisfied with the improvements, we switch to bi-weekly therapy sessions to taper off and see how you do on your own. After a month or so, we’ll officially end therapy and switch to voluntary wellness visits. This means that you can schedule irregular single sessions to check in.
the FREE CONSULTATION
1) Click on the “Schedule Your Free Consultation” button. It will take you to my secure client platform Simple Practice, where you can schedule a meeting. You can also email me directly at vivi@phoenixrisescounseling.org, or use the contact form to ask for a meeting time that is not listed. I may be able to see you earlier if someone cancels.
2) I will either confirm your consultation through Simple Practice, or email you additional availabilities.
3) You will receive an email from Simple Practice, giving you access to the portal. For a consultation, please fill out the Informed Consent for a Telehealth Consultation form. (Simple Practice is so easy to navigate, even I can do it.) If you run into problems, email me.
4) A few hours before your appointment, Simple Practice will send you an email with a link to access the virtual consultation. Try the link ahead of time. Some cell phones require you to download an app. Desktops or laptops won’t.
5) We’ll meet! I will ask you what brings you into therapy and what your goals are. You can ask me anything and I will do my best to address your concerns. We will connect informally to get to know each other, but observe professional boundaries.
Trauma is not who you are, it’s what happened to you.
Together, we’ll make sense of it in a way that leaves you stronger than before.
What others are saying about my work:
Due to confidentiality, I can’t quote previous clients. I often hear that our shared work has ‘changed lives”, “exceeded expectations” and made clients feel “heard and understood like they haven’t been before”. Client feedback often moves me to tears and I feel privileged and grateful to be able to do this work.
I can, however, quote colleagues who recommend me:
“Veronika is a compassionate and caring EMDR practitioner. She is innately tuned into the needs of her clients. I recommend her to men and women who have experienced abusive childhoods and/or relationships and are yearning for big life changes.“
“Also, X shared how impactful you have been to her over the past year and it was so touching. It made my eyes fill up with tears thinking of how meaningful your work is in this world. You truly are a lovely, kind and compassionate soul.” Ellie Kane, LMHC
“Veronika is a highly skilled, warm, and caring therapist. She has extensive experience treating grief and CPTSD and is an expert in treating poly, kink, and ENM couples and individuals. She excels at helping her clients achieve their goals.“ Milena Gordillo, MSW, LICSW
FEE SCHEDULE
60-minute therapy/EMDR: $160
90-minute therapy/EMDR: $240
90-minute IADC therapy: $250
60-minute couples counseling: $180
90-minute couples counseling: $270
I offer out-of-network benefits and I will provide superbills for insurance reimbursement.
PLEASE NOTE:
Insurance doesn’t pay or reimburse for IADC.
investing in MENTAL HEALTH can change LIVES.
I currently still accept Aetna, Kaiser PPO, and First Choice Health. I am in the process of phasing out Aetna.
I offer Premera out-of-network benefits. Please feel free to inquire about details.
Contact me
Let’s get started.
I WILL answer your questions and we can decide if I’m the right therapist for you.
For the protection of your Personal Health Information, get in touch with me through my Hippa-compliant email:
vivi [at] phoenixrisescounseling [dot] org
You can also request an appointment directly in my Simple Practice schedule by using the red button ”Request Appointment”.
If you want a free consultation earlier or at a different time than the online schedule permits, email me directly.
A Good Faith Estimate is available upon request.
My license number in Washington state is LH 61526615.
vivi [at] phoenixrisescounseling [dot] org
BUSINESS ADDRESS
Phoenix Rises Couseling LLC
Veronika Stutz, LMHC, C-EMDR
License number in Washington state: LH 61526615.
Howard St. STE W, #6727, Spokane, WA 99201