Sterling Walker, AMFT #118865
Are you looking to improve your well-being? The quality of your relationships? Are you experiencing high levels of anxiety, depression, serious problems related to trauma or major loss, or simply feeling you’ve lost the joy and purpose in your life? Or maybe you want to enhance your life by gaining insight into why you do the things you do.
My name is Sterling D. Walker and I am a Marriage and Family Therapist. My educational background includes earning my Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and Wellness at Wayne State University. I attended Antioch University where I earned my Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology, with a focus on Spirituality and Depth Processes. I have earned certifications in Addiction & Recovery, Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and Cognitive Process Therapy.
Healing Starts Here
My primary emphasis in therapy is to establish a relationship with you built on trust and collaboration. The humanistic and person-centered approach is where we start our engagement: This includes genuineness, kindness, unconditional support and positive regard, and listening attentively. This is how I create an environment of safety and support. Together we will work to help you move from feeling stuck and get on a fresh track where you feel safe in the world. I am here to support and guide you to better health. My expertise and background in psychology and wellness will support the work that we do to help you on your journey to healing.
What is going on for you today?
Typically people dealing with depression are those dealing with issues related to loss of interest in pleasurable activities, weight loss or gain, fatigue, and feelings of worthlessness. It can look different for each individual, often leaving people unaware of how much they have altered their life due to the traumatic experiences of their past.
At other times, people may be feeling anxious, leaving them feeling restless, irritable, or lacking concentration. This piles up so that people end up feeling unsuccessful in their daily lives: not completing deadlines, loss of patience with a significant other or family member, back pain, muscle tension, leaving them unable to perform functional day-to-day tasks, and/or tired and unable to think clearly.
When individuals have experienced trauma or life threatening or serious injury, or even sexual violence, those occurrences can cause significant stress on the brain and on the body causing one to have constant worry bombarded with horrific past thoughst or memories, distressing dreams, loss of memory, and reckless, impulsive, self-destructive behavior. This is often very common in individuals dealing with addiction, and LGBT-related experiences.
How we will move you past being stuck:
You do not need to struggle with these issues alone. We can work together in a therapeutic setting to support you in your efforts to overcome these issues and improve your overall well-being.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy: With a focus on your thoughts, outlook, familial and past history, and your behaviors, and developing an understanding of what drives your process. Identifying any negative thought patterns or irrational beliefs by processing these patterns and behaviors and creating new ways of thinking and adjusting and inserting more affirmative language.
Mindfulness (MBCT): We will use ideas and principles from CBT and build on your current thoughts and belief system while incorporating aspects of mindfulness. We will create a non-judgemental environment where you can process and find stillness within yourself to learn skills that will enhance your ability to self-soothe and regulate your emotions. There are a variety of ways to incorporate mindfulness into your life such as; breathwork, silent practice, guided practice, and visualization. Our goal is to be more conscious of thoughts without placing judgment on them
Motivational interviewing: Assist with finding the motivation to find healthy and positive ways to change behavior. Typically used to help patients that are having a difficult time with addictive behaviors or have uncertainty about change. MI encourages autonomy and improves confidence, strengthening patients’ personal accountability.
Solution focused brief therapy (SFCT): The focus is kept on what is working well in the patients life and gather solutions from personal experience and how things look if they were to improve by creating opportunities for change. Some of the common benefits to SFBT are; progress being made in the first 5-8 sessions, decrease anxiety and trauma symptoms, decrease romantic relationship problems, reduce internalizing behavior and conflict resolution.
Narrative therapy: With this approach we look at the stories that you have told yourself over the course of your life. Oftentimes people give meaning to the stories which have an adverse affect on how a person perceives their life. With this approach we work to move beyond the problematic stories and build skills and techniques to create new beliefs. Some of the common benefits to this approach are improvement of the quality of life, decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression, improvement in ability to be empathic, strengthen relationships, and enhance social skills.
Having an array of positive coping methods can assist you on your journey to move through the behavioral health conflict you face as an individual, in romantic or interpersonal relationships, or within your family dynamic.
Meeting you where you are at, and supporting you where you want to go:
I specialize in working with adolescents and adults, addiction, trauma, LGBTQ identity issues, as well as the concerns facing the African American community today. In therapy we will focus on creating healthy habits, setting attainable goals, and exploring exercises to help manage stress.
Sessions will utilize a range of tools including mindfulness, visualization, behavior tracking, and solution-focused questions to assist with getting to the core of the issue to ensure that you are better able to thrive. From there I utilize cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, solution-focused therapy and narrative therapy.
I create a warm, nurturing, and welcoming environment for anyone looking to develop these tools and establish a better relationship with themselves. Together we will seek to understand your patterns of behavior and reflect on your experiences in order to increase the quality of your life.
I provide individual therapy sessions for 50 minutes/$150 and couples therapy sessions for 50 minutes/$180. I look forward to connecting with you.
Please do not hesitate to contact me for a free 20 minute consultation.
Email: Sterlingdwalker01@gmail.com
Phone: 424-442-9038