Susana Kugeares

For 20+ years, I have worked with veterans (18 yrs as a VA psychologist) and with civilians, helping them get unstuck from anger, lack of joy, anxiety, guardedness, insecurity, inability to relax, emotional numbness, shame, compulsive people pleasing, and difficulty progressing toward goals. These are the common after-effects of experiencing a threat to our survival/needs without a subsequent return to feeling safe. We know a body has experienced the 'up' without the 'down-into-safety-again' when emotional or relational struggles don't resolve on their own over time. It shows us that the person's coping system is still using old survival responses that don't fit the reality of their present life. My work focuses on helping the body "update" its feeling of safety to match the present. As this gradually occurs, new options for responding to life (such as relaxing, playing, loving, more meaningful working, and living more fully) become available again. In addition to SE, I am trained in and use ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), Mindful Self-Compassion, and nonjudgmental, here-and-now relational dialogue to help a person rediscover a sense of safety within themselves and with another human being. This leads to reconnection with parts of themselves that got tucked away long ago, and they begin to relate to the world more authentically from this state of greater wholeness. I am licensed in both Florida and Texas, and provide face-to-face services in Austin, TX.