Mina Kirkova, MA, MSW, LCSW-C
Counseling and Therapy for Children, Adolescents, & Adults
in Phoenix/Jacksonville, Maryland
3009 Jackson Ridge Ct. Phoenix, MD, 21131
minakirkova@gmail.com
(443) 322-6552
ADD/ADHD, Anxiety, Stress, Mindfulness, Meditation, School Underachievement, Organizational Skills, Time Mngt., Phobias, Grief, Loss, Depression, Emotional Dysregulation, Self-Confidence, Bullying, Social Skills, Assertiveness, Sibling Rivalry, Disciplining Issues, Anger, Arguing, Rebelliousness , Lying
MY SPECIALTIES
MY APPROACH TO ADULTS THERAPY
For more information regarding therapy and counseling I offer to adult patients, please go to: www.minatherapy.com
I am always enthusiastic to work with individuals who are facing challenges in life, eager to learn lessons, and move on to the next level of their life. I feel fulfilled when I see clients walk away lighter, freer, happier, and excited to live their own personal journey after healing from wounds, disorders, and struggles on their path. I am here to help you bloom into your best self by providing you with a safe place to reconnect with your inner self. I can help you nurture your inner world, heal your past, and learn how to develop a loving relationship with yourself and the important people in your life. By using a variety of treatment modalities, we will go into your past to understand your present and change your future. In a safe and supportive environment, I offer a highly personalized approach tailored to each of my patient’s individual needs.
In my individual therapy sessions with adults, I frequently focus on issues related to anxiety, phobias, depression, grief and loss, past trauma, PTSD, life transitions, chronic illness, insomnia, relationship problems, career difficulties, spirituality, self-esteem, anger management, and organizational issues.
Other commonly addressed issues with adult patients in individual therapy relate to marital and parenting stressors as they often negatively and profoundly affect my adult patients’ well-being. For example, some common relationship issues are: miscommunication, finances, purchases, mismatched expectations, intimacy, inability to compromise, religious differences, dealing with in-laws, and differences in values and beliefs. Examples of common parenting issues may include: differences in parenting styles, children’s daily routines, chores, homework, grades, dating, gender identity questioning, unhealthy sleeping or eating patterns, social media, electronic devices overuse, home schooling.
In order to achieve quick and lasting results in my work with adult patients, I draw on a variety of therapeutic techniques and modalities listed below.
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOR THERAPY (CBT)
Cognitive-behavior therapy relies largely on verbal learning principles—namely, those that involve cognition (perception, thinking, reasoning, attention, and judgment). The basic cognitive-behavior strategy is to change the thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, and attitudes that are contributing to the patient’s emotional or behavioral problems. In other words, when working from a cognitive-behavior viewpoint in therapy, I aim toward changing distorted thinking patterns in order to change the way an individual feels and behaves. Cognitive-behavior techniques are powerful tools in the hands of a skilled therapist. I have found them particularly helpful in the treatment of phobias, panic attacks, anxiety issues, depression, low self-esteem, etc.
FAMILY SYSTEMS THERAPY
When using Family Systems Therapy, a therapist analyses the entire (extended) family as a complex system having its own language, roles, rules, beliefs, needs, and patterns. From the viewpoint of the therapist, each family member plays a significant part in the family system. Family Systems Therapy helps an individual discover how their own family operates and what their particular role is in the family system. The goal of this therapy is to decrease anxiety and increase differentiation of self. When using this therapeutic modality, I place the presenting problem in multigenerational family context by completing a thorough genogram (a pictorial display of a person's family relationships) of the family in treatment.
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NARRATIVE THERAPY
As an adult therapist, I employ narrative therapy techniques to help adult patients externalize problems rather than focus on problems as being part of themselves. This process of “externalization” allows patients to consider new relationships with problems based on the motto “The person is not the problem, the problem is the problem.” Through the use of narrative therapy techniques, I help my clients in therapy create changes by discovering different, more productive, realistic, and satisfying stories about their lives.
SOLUTION-FOCUSED THERAPY
Solution-focused therapy emphasizes the construction of solutions to problems, rather than an examination of their causes or how they are maintained. This approach rests on the belief that people can solve their problems by doing more of what has been successful for them in the past. When using solution-focused techniques in therapy, I help my patients notice when their troubling symptoms decrease and use this as a basis for recovery. In my experience as a therapist, solution-focused techniques have proven helpful in the treatment of stress management, achieving goals, anxiety, marital problems, etc.
NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING (NLP)
You could think of Neuro-Linguistic Programming as an owner's manual for the brain. NLP is the science of how the brain codes learning and experience. This coding affects all communication and behavior. It affects how you learn and how you perceive the world around you. It is a key to reaching goals and achieving excellence.
The “neuro” part of Neuro-Linguistic Programming acknowledges the fundamental idea that all behavior stems from our neurological processes of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste and feeling. We experience the world through our five senses, making sense of the information and then acting on it. The “linguistic” part of the title indicates that we use language and other non-verbal communication to order our thoughts and behavior and to communicate with others. The “programming” refers to ways we can choose to organize our ideas, our sequences of repetitive behavior and actions, to produce results. So Neuro-Linguistic Programming explores the relationship between how we think (neuro), how we communicate (linguistic) and our patterns of behavior (programming).
Through using Neuro-Linguistic Programming approach in therapy, I have been successful in helping my clients in the following areas: achieving goals, improving relationships and communication, controlling internal mental states, creating powerful new internal states, eliminating phobias, traumas, depression, and learning difficulties. In short, with the help of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, you will find it easier to achieve your personal and professional goals because you will gain greater access to your internal resources, remove obstacles that have been holding you back, as well as have more fun while doing it.
MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION, AND RELAXATION TECHNIQUES
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Relaxation Techniques help to:
- Become ore aware of their body, thoughts, and surrounding environment
- Get in touch with their inner core and strengthen it
- Improve their self esteem and confidence
- Slow down and think before speaking or acting
- Stay grounded in reality, eliminate “catastrophic/worst case scenario thinking”
GUIDED WELLNESS IMAGERY AND VISUALIZATIONS
Guided wellness imagery and visualizations entails a variety of relaxation techniques in therapy aiming toward tension release and attainment of a peaceful, balanced, and focused state. As an adult therapist, I help my patients achieve such states by visualizing relaxing images and situations, such as a beautiful beach, a green meadow, or a sparkling waterfall. Such relaxed states may decrease stress, promote physical, emotional, and spiritual healing, as well as improve performance and release creativity blocks.
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YOGA, MOVEMENT, AND BREATHING PRACTICES
Yoga, movement, and breathing practices help to:
- Get in touch with their inner core and strengthen it
- Deal with difficult feelings by expressing them through movement or letting go of them through the breath
- Learn and practice breathing techniques to calm and center the body and the mind
