Your Mindful Counselor - Suellen Fagin-Allen, LMHC, PA
Orlando and Virtually throughout Florida - Telephone 407-523-1213
Affirmative psychotherapy via telehealth - for the Pandemic, and beyond.
Welcome! I am now accepting new patients.
A noted philosopher once said that "(S/)he who has a 'why' to live can bear almost any 'how'. The last year and a half has certainly brought the truth of that sentiment home to me. A pandemic, unprecedented in the last century, has upended our personal and collective notions of safety and normalcy. A significant number of us lost family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers to this deadly virus. And many of us who have survived COVID-19 relatively unscathed have nonetheless faced sometimes drastic changes in our economic/work situations, our personal lives, and our sense of peace and tranquility. The notion of Quality of Life has been replaced with the mandate of simply Getting through Life. We have become so focused on how to get through the next month, the next week and even the next day that we've lost sight of the reasons 'getting through' was important to us in the first place. "Because I just HAVE to!" has replaced our sense of meaning and purpose - our "why".
I want to help you recapture your real "why" - the one you had before the pandemic happened. It might not look or feel exactly the same as it did then, but it will be yours - and it will feel authentic and personal, as it did then. It will help you recapture that sense of competence in managing your life and interacting effectively in relationships and efficiently in career matters, along with your natural ability to recognize, seek out and embrace moments of serenity and joy. I assure you that those moments are as real and accessible as the fear and uncertainty many of us have become all too accustomed to feeling lately.
And yes, I want to help you feel hope again. Hope starts with curiosity and inquisitiveness, embodied in the question "What will happen next?" You can embrace that question and still be fully grounded in the present. Through compassionate presence, reflective listening and deep respect for your willingness to face the discomfort inherent in the change process, I will help you develop a compassionate presence for yourself, the ability to step back from your thoughts and feelings to find out what's driving them, and the understanding that you can switch your focus from the unhelpful ones to the more healthy and affirming ones. And, you'll acquire the tools that will help you do that on an increasingly consistent basis. All the while, you will be acting your way into right thinking!
Please note that I work best with issues and challenges felt by or related to mid-lifers (roughly ages 45 to 65), legal and healthcare professionals, creative and performing artists, people who are childless by choice, people seeking full and satisfying lives including disability and health challenges, and people who identify as LBGTQ+. I work with individual adults only. I'm credentialed with several insurance panels and have a reasonable sliding fee scale for those who wish to pay out of pocket. If you're a potential client, I look forward to speaking with you soon!
For more information please call or email requesting a callback. Please be aware that emails containing personal health information may not protected by HIPAA privacy laws.
