Self Esteem, Confidence & Self Compassion

Self esteem describes your overall opinion about yourself, like knowing your strengths and limitations. Self esteem is tied to your self-worth, and people who have low self esteem put very little value on their own opinions and ideas. (Is this sounding familiar?) Having a therapeutic space to explore self esteem provides the chance to identify your internal strengths and build positive self esteem. We'll also explore how social connections support positive self esteem--and how to set boundaries with those who don't bring out your best.

Confidence

Confidence is your belief in your capabilities to be reliable for something. What do you trust about yourself to be good and true? Building confidence is sort of like a staircase, because we build success upon success. Strengths are identified and limitations are challenged. Any missteps or "failures" are taken as opportunities for growth and a chance to explore what might be challenging or vulnerable.

Self Compassion

Self compassion is an encouraging process where you extend kindness to yourself in the same way you would extend kindness to someone you care about. Self compassion lets you see opportunities where you used to see obstacles or dead ends. As you might have guessed, learning how to self compassionate is an emotional process. Sometimes we have to dismantle mistaken ideas about how to talk to yourself and do some reparenting or undo perfectionist tendencies. 

Social Justice and Identity

Exploring self esteem, confidence and self compassion might require taking a social justice approach. What does this mean? Understanding society's messages on topics like gender roles, stereotypes, life milestones (that darn "map of life"), and dismantling ideas about standards of beauty and worthiness. We might explore identity, intersectionality, biases, oppression and privilege. While it's not intended to be the sole focus of therapy for these topics, sometimes it's hard not to step in it when the influence is so clear. This approach will empower you through the self awareness and understanding you'll form that becomes the foundation of compassion for yourself and others.

How do I treat self esteem, confidence and self compassion?
Stress and satisfaction evaluation
Self-care
Self-talk & automatic thoughts
Mistaken beliefs
Strengths building
Expressing feelings
Assertiveness & boundary setting