Erengo Suto, LMFT

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, registered Art Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner with over 16 years of experience.

Have you been trying to do things differently but nothing seems to be working? Are you feeling as though despite how hard you try you cannot seem to convince yourself that things are fine or to stop the racing thoughts. Are you finding that no matter how many times you keep telling yourself "it's fine", "you're ok" or "that things are gonna get better", it does nothing to alleviate your distress or the intensity of your emotions? Are you feeling as though you are no longer your self and that things you once did with ease bring about overwhelm and anxiety? Have you tried therapy before and it does not seem to be doing anything? If any of this sounds familiar, a somatic based approach may be helpful. Targeting the nervous system can start to bring about unity between the brain and body making change feel more accessible.

I offer individual therapy to adults and trauma specific therapy to children. I utilize an integrative approach of evidenced based practices, somatic work and art/visualization to support holistic healing. We are more than just our thoughts and so to support healing, approaching our issues from multiple dimensions can at times be a more effective route. Our work together will focus on not just tools to manage symptoms but to support increasing the resiliency of the nervous system.
Throughout my 16 year career in mental health I have been focused on supporting individuals to work through trauma, addiction, anxiety, depression, loss and to increase their overall wellbeing. I started my career working in community mental health working with children and families. My work there focused largely on processing and resolving trauma related symptoms. At the tenth annual Childhood Grief and Traumatic loss conference, I presented on Utilizing art therapy within a Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy framework.

I spent 8 years working on a comprehensive DBT unit and served as the DBT Clinical Lead. During my time there, I took part in a research study looking at the efficacy of inpatient DBT treatment that was published in the Journal of Clinical and Community Medicine, https://lupinepublishers.com/clinical-community-medicine/pdf/JCCM.MS.ID.000187.pdf .

I have additionally worked with individuals to support their recovery from substances and overcome their addiction. I lead IOP groups specific to addiction treatment and DBT groups.

I am a first generation Hungarian American immigrant and have experienced first hand the difficulties in resolving identity conflicts and the challenges when differing levels of acculturation exist within a family. It is hard to find your ground at times when you feel as though you are straddled between two worlds. My graduate research focused on bicultural identity development. The findings of my research were presented at the American Art Therapy Association Annual Conference held in Seattle, Washington.

Through my varied training and experience I have come to an approach that combines traditional evidenced based treatments with image and sensation exploration to be able to abstract the meaning, latent belief systems and energy that can keep us stuck. We will work together to bring more balance in both your internal and external world, to increase your confidence and over all well being. Some of the work we do together may involve practical skills that can improve your ability to cope with intense emotions that may be coming up and other work may involve discovering and tracking energy and emotions within the body that may be holding you back from being able to make changes. My goal is to help your brain and body feel more aligned and less at odds with one another. To find ways to not only tell yourself to feel better but to actually experience relief from painful emotions or paralyzing numbness.