JoAnne V. Crough Counseling is not able to accept new clients at this time.
I help women who are incurable people pleasers heal their wounds, redefine their relationships and find joy in their lives again.
Not feeling like yourself lately? Maybe you have trouble falling or staying asleep. Perhaps you have anxiety almost all the time. Does it feel like you’ve swallowed something alive that’s trapped inside that wants to get out?
You might struggle to say no to folks, or live in fear of disappointing people. Feelings can often be overwhelming.
Your old ways of coping just aren’t able to to tame this new level of stress. Nothing seems to work.
You wonder what’s happening to you as you find yourself feeling disconnected from friends, family and maybe even your church.
Maybe you’re saying to yourself, “Am I losing my mind? Why can’t I get a good night’s sleep anymore? Where is everybody when I need them most? Where do I really belong?” Let me reassure you that these are common questions we ask ourselves during trying times.
You are NOT alone.
Just asking these questions takes courage.
You may not think of yourself as brave, but you are. It takes courage to seek the answers to these questions. Let me say that again. Take a deep breath and know -- It takes COURAGE to seek the answers to these questions. So, I say welcome to my website, stay a bit and let’s see if we’ll be a good fit.
My Approach
The shortest version about my perspective on counseling is essentially this: The truth will set you free, but it’s not supposed to send you into a tailspin of perfectionism, self-blame, shame and anxiety. It’s my job to join you in the process of becoming free of harsh, critical, negative beliefs and misconceptions about yourself that actually served you at some point in your life. You have the answers within you. My approach is one of assisting you in unlocking the strengths you possess and updating those parts of you locked up in the past.
There is no other analogy that serves better than the lotus flower to illustrate what I have witnessed with hundreds of clients with whom I’ve been privileged to work.
The lotus is considered to be one of the most sacred plants in the world because it has a life cycle unlike any other plant. To start, this flower has an incredible will to live. A lotus seed can withstand centuries without water, yet it remains able to germinate and bloom. Then, with its roots latched in mud, it submerges every night into deep, muddy river water and miraculously re-blooms the next morning, sparkling clean.
Not only does the lotus find nourishment in the muck, but it continues to resurrect itself, coming back just as beautiful as ever. With such refusal to accept defeat, it’s almost impossible not to associate this flower with an unwavering and quiet will to rise above what to all might seem an impossible task.
Yet, this undefeatable flower blooms day after day after being submerged in the deepest, darkest, and muddiest of waters because it has evolved to do just that.
We too are like the lotus. We rise from the mud of a world of struggle and injustice where we can be out of touch with our strengths, value and resourcefulness. As we grow in awareness, trust, and hope, light is able to shine through the muck freeing us to see possibilities and energize our growth. What treasures lie within us!
Things can and DO improve - often from what seems like the tiniest shift within ourselves.