Stephanie Bourgeois, LCSW

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 1997 and in private practice since 2012, I offer individual psychotherapy for adolescents and adults and also provide couples and family therapy. I offer traditional therapy as well as alternative holistic/somatic treatments such as body psychotherapy, EMDR and sandtray therapy. My work is deeply informed by a holistic mind/body/spirit approach to healing and well-being. I believe our brains are truly malleable and it is possible to rewire them: to unlearn, relearn and change.
 
EMDR is my latest focus and most exciting method for helping people. I am particularly passionate about how it creates deep, lasting healing and transformation for many clients. EMDR is an approach for the entire therapeutic journey, not just effective at processing trauma. When our brains are no longer hijacked by big and small traumas, we can access an integrated brain, heart and mind which can now operate in compassion and move us into joy and authentic power.
 
I’m also thrilled to be co-creating the Mind Body Therapy Collective in Montclair, NJ and bringing together like-minded holistic healers of all kinds to collaborate and support each other while bringing more integrated healing to our communities. Check us out at mbtcollective.com. I see clients virtually and also in person in our new Montclair office. 

Specialties

  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Children and adolescent issues
  • Parenting concerns
  • Women’s issues
  • Relationship issues — conflict and anger management
  • Self-esteem and assertiveness training
  • Life transitions
  • Divorce
  • Loss/grief
  • Cutting and other self-harming behaviors
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Eating disorders
  • Infertility
  • Addictions and co-dependency

Treatment Types

I offer multiple approaches in both traditional therapy and alternative somatic treatments, including:

EMDR is an advanced and structured brain-body therapy that is used to treat single-event or more complex trauma. The patient is briefly encouraged to focus on a trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements). EMDR helps people process these memories properly, while reducing the negative emotions and beliefs associated with the trauma.

Psychodynamic (Insight-Oriented) Therapy helps clients explore the unconscious reasons behind feelings and behaviors as well as how early childhood experiences influence present behavior. Psychodynamic/Insight-Oriented therapies aim to help clients become aware of and experience vulnerable feelings which have often felt intolerable and pushed out of conscious awareness.

CBT helps people change self-defeating thoughts and beliefs in order to improve their feelings and behaviors. CBT focuses on problem-solving, building new coping skills, and creating healthier patterns of thinking.

Mindfulness Therapy encourages a kind and non-judgmental attitude towards oneself in order to gently notice what is happening in the here and now. In this way, mindfulness helps people deepen their understanding of themselves and allows them to learn to fully accept their experiences and reactions to life. Many mindfulness techniques are taught including meditation, breathwork, and ways to challenge our cognitive distortions.

Despite the name, IFS is not family therapy. Instead, it is a form of individual talk therapy that identifies various parts of ourselves that function like sub-personalities — including younger parts, wounded parts, and protective parts. IFS works to heal these parts to allow them to work together and create a sense of inner balance and harmony. This work can help with depression, anxiety, trauma, phobias and physical pain.

Sandtray Therapy is a powerful therapeutic technique for children and adults that involves a sandbox, called a sandtray, and a large collection of figurines. Clients arrange the figurines in the sandtray, recreating their inner world and bringing subconscious conflicts to consciousness. It is often said that sandplay therapy provides a “free and protected space” for exploration and healing.

Unergi Body Psychotherapy is based on the belief that emotions and memories are stored in our physical selves and that our bodies often hold truths our hearts and minds may not be ready to acknowledge yet. The root causes of symptoms and illnesses are often early experiences that have long been locked away from our consciousness. These unexpressed feelings can create energy blockages. These can manifest as emotional imbalances (such as depression, anxiety or relationship issues) or in the form of physical imbalances (such as chronic pain, muscle tension, addiction and disease). Unergi, with its healing touch and talk, invites clients into a dialogue between the body and the mind to access buried emotions and memories. Through listening to our bodies, old wounds heal and new insights, inner peace and deep joy often emerge.

Energy Healing is a holistic practice that involves channeling healing energy into a patient to restore balance and improve health. The goal is to stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself by removing blockages.

Education, Training & Experience

Education/Training:

  • BA, Connecticut College, 1994
  • MS, Columbia University School of Social Work, 1997
  • Couples and Family Therapy certificate, Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, 1999
  • Certification in Body-Psychotherapy, The Unergi School of Body-Psychotherapy, 2008
  • Reiki, second level training, 2004
  • Pranic healing, advanced training 2001
  • EMDR therapy, certification 2022
  • New Jersey LCSW License #: 44SC05195100

Experience:

  • Summit Psychological Services, Summit, NJ: Psychotherapist in a group practice
  • Brooklyn Center for Psychotherapy, Brooklyn, NY: Child therapist in an elementary school
  • Jewish Child Care Association, Brooklyn, NY: Therapist working with families and children
  • Victim Services, Brooklyn, NY: Therapist for women and children in a battered women’s shelter
  • The Jewish Board for Family and Children Services, Brooklyn, NY: Family therapist with teenagers and their families

Contact Me

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