Embedded Files
When I look back on my younger years, I recognize that I had little understanding of psychological agency. Sometimes, I fully embraced my agency and power to imagine and to think alternatively from my circumstances and at other times I blamed biology or circumstance. As I learned about agency, I began to recognize that we each have the power within us to choose moment by moment, exercised within the limitations and possibilities of our unique biological makeup and developmental contextual circumstances. This power is attached to an inherent moral responsibility to choose well not only for us, but on behalf of others within our circles. While we can abdicate our agency to nature or nurture, we will also often do so at a cost to our mental health. Such an understanding when applied to relating helps us to be more compassionate and curious about others- two key qualities in developing good healthy relationships. Taking seriously the theoretical work of my late mentor, Joseph Rychlak (1928-2013), and applying his agentic-centered psychology in the clinical realm opened my eyes. I have seen over the years how a proper understanding of agency naturally carries over into a clearer understanding of how to be mentally healthy. Given this, I have wanted to share this understanding with others and to provide resources for my clients.
Dr. Kristin Hansen is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in private practice since 2001. She created Healing Relations, LLC to help clients not only get support for their psychological challenges and difficulties, but to learn about how to have healing relations. Healing relations are relations that honor another person's embodied moral agency within his or her unique relational, social and cultural context.
In her work with clients, Dr. Hansen takes into account the influences of psychology, biology, culture, family context, and spiritual/religious considerations. She helps her clients heal where healing is needed and also helps them find new ways to see the world, expand their awareness, and strengthen their relationships with themselves and with others with a respect for their religious, cultural and spiritual beliefs. Her clients come to understand problematic patterns of relating within themselves and with others as she teaches them about agency, mindfulness skills, emotion regulation, and healthy ways of connecting in a safe experiential therapy process.
Dr. Hansen’s psychotherapy work is informed by EFT, DBT, ISDTP, psychodynamic, IFS, and spiritually integrated psychotherapies. In addition to her therapy practice, she has been a faculty member at Brigham Young University and a published author. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Chicago and completed her internship and two post-doctoral fellowships in Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Healthcare at Harvard Medical School.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse