Specialty
Personal Growth & Performance
When you know you are capable of more but something keeps getting in the way
Many people come to therapy not because something is falling apart, but because something is not moving. You may be doing well by most outside measures and still sense a gap between where you are and how you want to feel, perform, or live—whether that shows up as anxiety before you speak, standards you can never quite meet, uncertainty about your direction, or patterns of avoidance that keep getting in the way.
These concerns are easy to dismiss as a discipline problem or a personality flaw, but they rarely are. Perfectionism, procrastination, self-doubt, and freezing under pressure usually have understandable roots in how you learned to relate to mistakes, judgment, expectations, and your own worth.
Therapy in this area is not simply coaching, and it is not about squeezing more productivity out of you. It is about understanding what is actually driving the pattern, working with it at a deeper level, and helping you pursue what matters to you with less fear, avoidance, and friction. Our integrative approach is designed for this kind of work.
Common types of personal growth & performance we treat
Clinicians who specialize in personal growth & performance
Our psychologists share a common foundation while bringing different areas of focus, so you can find the person whose angle fits your experience. *
EMDR · Hypnosis · Psychodynamic
Dr. Micah Zylstra works with people who feel stuck, whether in their work, their sense of direction, or their relationship with themselves. His focus includes identity concerns, shame, work stress and performance-related concerns, including public speaking. He is especially attuned to the quiet self-criticism that exists for many.
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ACT · EMDR · Hypnosis
Dr. Laura Faiwiszewski focuses on performance anxiety, public speaking, professional confidence and perfectionism-related concerns. She works with people whose fear of judgment or of falling short shows up in very concrete moments, such as presentations, interviews and evaluations, as well as in the pressure they carry between these moments.
Full profile →Modalities
Therapy approaches that may help
We integrate these techniques, custom-tailored to you, in the order your nervous system can use first.
Selected Research
- 2023Associations between perfectionism and symptoms of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression in young people: a meta-analysisCogn Behav Ther · PubMed ↗
- 2022Group dynamic-relational therapy for perfectionismRes Psychother · PubMed ↗
- 2018Prevention and intervention for academic procrastination in academic communitiesJ Prev Interv Community · PubMed ↗
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is therapy for personal growth only for people with a diagnosis?
- No. Many people work with us on patterns like perfectionism, performance anxiety, self-doubt or difficulty following through without any formal diagnosis. If a pattern is limiting your life, that is reason enough to address it.
- How is this different from coaching?
- Coaching typically focuses on goals, plans and accountability. Our work is psychotherapy: it addresses the emotional and psychological patterns underneath, such as fear of failure, shame or anxiety, that coaching strategies alone often cannot shift. Many people find practical progress follows more naturally once those patterns ease whether on your own or with a coach.
- Which concern should I start with if several of these sound like me?
- That is very common, because these patterns tend to travel together. Perfectionism feeds procrastination, anxiety erodes confidence, and so on. You do not need to sort it out yourself. A consultation helps us understand the whole picture and recommend where to begin.
- What approaches do you use for performance and growth concerns?
- Depending on your needs, treatment may integrate traditional psychotherapy with EMDR, clinical hypnosis, and somatic and experiential therapy. Hypnosis can be especially useful for performance anxiety and habit change, while EMDR helps when past experiences of failure or criticism are impacting you.
- How long does this kind of therapy take?
- It depends on the pattern and its history. A focused concern, such as anxiety about an upcoming presentation, may shift in a relatively short course of work. Long-standing patterns like perfectionism usually take longer, though people often feel meaningful relief after a few sessions.