Stanley Kisiel

Hi, my name is Stanley Kisiel; I’m a licensed Marriage and Family therapist (lic# CT 001187). I’ve been in practice for 21 years and have successfully worked with clients of all ages, with both common and complex needs. My approach focuses on experiential awareness and processing, while working with present day thoughts feelings and behaviors. Together establishing a calm place within you through enhancement of personal awareness and resources, we recognize that the mind, brain, and body are a coherent whole. And with curiosity and care, we can move beyond coping skills, through patterns of learning, to lasting change from the inside out.

My approach

My experience has moved me in the direction of mind-body psychotherapy approaches. I am family-systems oriented in thinking, and I tend to focus on helping clients with emotion regulation issues in practice. In addition to Marriage & Family Therapy, I am trained in EMDR, IFS, and DBT; these approaches work well with various issues including anxiety, trauma/stress, impulsive behaviors, and mood disorders. Also, EMDR has also been successful in enhancing workplace performance and reducing performance anxiety.

My focus

Though I have dealt with a variety of diagnoses and client presentations, in general, I would categorize the central theme as one of emotional dys-regulation. Though disorders such as anxiety and depression come in a number of flavors, it is the person seeking to address the feeling/result of living with a “blooming, buzzing confusion” that has re-established itself in one’s adult-life for whatever reason, and now needs help and understanding. Perhaps that would be a type of client I would typically work with.

My communication style

Listening I feel is central to communicating. And being informed by curiosity, caring and compassion makes it more like 'art appreciation', with the client as the artist. While trying to understand how the client's symptoms are working for the client. Understanding the 'problem' as the client's solution, is validating the client's perspective, and understanding the emotional necessity are key.

My journey to mental healthcare

Fifty years ago while attending Wesleyan University as an undergrad, I was sitting in an earlier presentation of a newer approach to psychotherapy called Family therapy. It had a unique focus on the family system as the context and a catalytic cog in development of what might be called my maladaptive discontent--I felt vindicated--now having a way to expand my understanding of what's driving me. It's been a steady march forward.

My goals for you

In a sense, it's a series of expanding concentric circles of inquiry. Perhaps what led you to get in your car or pick up the phone might be a starting place. I encourage the client to formulate three problem statements, which could be a enough to get us started, at least providing three directions for further inquiry and explication; with a tentative idea of preferred resolution for each.

My first session with you

In short, after requisite paperwork and rule setting; we will hopefully have time to hear about how the client decided to talk with me,--essentially what brings you here, who are you, and what do you hope to change, by our working together.