Angela Maestas
MA, LPC
SACRED PATHS COUNSELING
You have no need to travel anywhere. Journey within yourself. Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light. -Rumi
HEALING
THROUGH RELATIONSHIP
My name is Angela and I am a licensed therapist in the state of Colorado. My approach to therapy is grounded in a relational-psychodynamic perspective that takes into consideration practical tools with trauma informed care.
This means I pay attention to how your past experiences and important relationships influence the current emotional patterns that play out in your life. Together, we explore the themes and attachment experiences that are currently impacting you, helping to increase self-awareness and reflective capacity. From here, I also integrate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and EMDR to support both insight and change. These evidence-based interventions assist clients with greater psychological flexibility, process painful experiences, and move toward a life that feels more meaningful and aligned with their values.
My approach is warm, collaborative and attentive. I consider myself to be a highly relational therapist, with an understanding of the truly paradoxical situation we, as human-beings, often find ourselves in; we suffer relational wounds that can only be healed in the context of relationship.
Therapy is a unique opportunity to do this.
"Your wound is probably not your fault, but your healing is your responsibility"
-Shraddha
I provide counseling services for individual adults seeking help with grief and loss, codependency, life-transitions, relationship issues, and for those seeking deeper meaning in their lives.
Areas of Expertise
Relational Psychodynamic Therapy
This therapy may be helpful if you keep running into the same struggles in relationships. You may long for connection but also fear closeness, rejection, conflict, or being let down. You might have trouble setting boundaries, or understanding why certain situations feels so intense. Together, we look at how earlier experiences may still be affecting your relationships and emotional life today.
Negative Self-Talk
Often times people behave the way they do based on the way they perceive their circumstances. The situations we find ourselves in do not have to define our behaviors. Through building a relationship with my clients, I learn about their self-concept. Sometimes people tend to see themselves through a distorted lens. Together we can work to adjust a distorted self-concept to fit reality.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
Sometimes our thoughts feel like reality and we lose the ability to recognize that what we are focusing on is unhelpful to our wellbeing. Accepting life on life's terms can be challenging, as this includes all of our emotions- especially the ones people often try very hard to avoid, like sadness and anger. Instead of getting stuck fighting anxiety, self-criticism, or painful emotions (ACT) focuses on making space for what you're experiencing, while helping you take steps towards the life you want to live. Through identifying values and understanding the importance of committed action to create change.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy helps people process and heal from distressing experiences that may still feel emotionally or physically activating. It is often used for trauma, anxiety, and other overwhelming life events. By helping the brain reprocess stuck memories, EMDR can reduce the intensity of triggers, beliefs, and emotions connected to the past, so they feel less disruptive in the present
