Today we’d like to introduce you to Ann Duval.
Hi Ann, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As an adult I have consistently wanted to pursue justice and healing for hurting people while connecting with them. What I enjoyed most about being a musician is that the universal language of music could soften the most guarded person so that I could connect with them and help them express their painful emotions. Whether I talked with victims of all kinds of abuse, a 12 step group member or someone who has never felt accepted by anyone, my intuition and empathy feels for and with them. As I kept listening to heartbreaking stories from my music audience, and wondering why they would trust me with such vulnerability, I knew I needed to learn more about helping people move through their distress. I had reached out for help because of my own trauma and the negative effects of it on my relationships. My husband and I both found help through support groups and counseling and the more we healed the more I became fascinated by the bio-psycho-social-spiritual interactions within my healing journey. I wanted to learn and grow more so I went back to school and graduated with a masters degree in clinical mental health counseling. As I tried out all kinds of experiences training and working within the counseling world, my favorite has been both Emotion Focused Couples Counseling and Trauma Counseling using EMDR. Both are evidenced based and highly researched theories that help individuals and relationships grow and thrive long after counseling is over. I am married to a man from a very different culture than my own. While the differences created our own rich beauty in family, it also created a lot of misunderstandings and disconnection. I understand from a personal place the hard but fulfilling work in using challenging relational circumstances to grow effective communication, intimacy and a secure attachment.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The way that a lifelong musician uses their brain to create, communicate and collaborate is drastically different than how a graduate level student uses their brain to learn, retain and apply knowledge. Growing up my main purpose for school was social connection so I did not have good study habits, In grad school my brain had to literally change and grow to participate in higher level learning. As a grad student I not only studied almost constantly, but I had to sacrifice having only a few relationships outside my immediate family so that I could dedicate all my time for work or studying. I felt depressed and isolated, through much of my college journey because my lifestyle was often incongruent with my deepest held values.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Lakefront Counseling and Relationship Services?
My practice uses two main science backed and evidence based methods for marriage and individual counseling.
I am very grateful to have had an unusually large amount of marriage counseling experience in the first 4 years of my career. As we map out the couple pattern, there is a calming of the nervous system and space is created for feeling seen heard and understood by each other. We create effective change by enacting emotional connections together. We then deepen the secure bond and restructure a more positive pattern that can also repair old attachment wounds and bring long lasting positive results at home.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing)
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias, chronic illness and medical issues, depression and bipolar disorders, eating disorders, grief and loss, pain, psychosis, PTSD/CPTSD, sexual assault, sleep disturbance, violence and abuse. I have had the privilege to participate in working through all kinds of distress with clients. It is a safe way to address a traumatic response in the body without re-traumatizing or flooding.
What are your plans for the future?
Yes! I plan to offer groups. This creates a more cost-effective way to end therapy earlier and provide clients with a built in support system to form new relationship patterns with others who have similar values.
Pricing:
- $120 for a 60 minute session
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Lakefrontcounselingservices.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ihearyousaying
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100065180191063
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-duval-0164aa385
Image Credits
Light Rae Exposures
