Phyllis Nasta LPC  
               
                  (520)   203-4968 cell  327-7071 land line

                                    Counseling -

scroll down for -

Gestalt Therapy and Dream Work,
Parenting, Adolescents and Children, 
Career and College Counseling and
"why go to counseling?"

General Information on Counseling

I have been a counselor for over twenty years and am a State Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona.
Throughout my career in counseling I have worked with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of settings. I've conducted support groups for new moms and worked with dying patients and their families through death and grieving, and everything in between. I have worked in agencies, hospitals, clinics, schools and private practice. In all of these postions I gained knowledge about the emotional, psychological, practical, vocational, psychopharmaceutical, medical and educational issues that people face in life.
My approach to counseling is based on the idea that everyone can solve their problems and improve their situations. I have a variety of counseling techniques available to me to use and I tailor the session to the needs of the client. 

I use some approaches to solving problems focus on the cognitive aspects, some on the emotional, some on the behavioral.

One of the techniques I use , when appropriate , is Gestalt Therapy.

Here is a description of Gestalt Therapy and the Dream Analysis approach that goes with it:


Gestalt Therapy


I was priviliged to receive four years of training in Gestalt Therapy at the Gestalt Institute of Phoenix, founded by the innovative Dr. Robert Mosby. Throughout the years I've been a counselor I've learned a variety of other techniques and utilize them in my work. When clients are willing to try Gestalt I work in that mode.With its present-centered approach, dedication to getting to the root of problems quickly and solving them effectively Gestalt is a deep and insightful form of psychotherapy.
 
Gestalt Dream Work
When most people think of dream analysis they think of 
a system of interpreting symbols,or they refer to a book that purports to give the meaning of dream aspects.

I have found that the best method of dream analysis comes from the founder of Gestalt Therapy, Fritz Perls M.D. 

Perls theorized that every symbol, dynamic, and drama in a dream is individually meaningful and able to be authentically interpreted only by the dreamer.

If two people dream about a lamp, for example, it would be inaccurate to offer objective interpretation of what a 'lamp' means in a dream. 

In Perls' method of dream analysis, the dreamer is directed to "become" the symbol. In this example of a lamp it could be that one person's lamp is a dingy, dusty standing lamp in a corner of a dark room and whose bulbs are flickering. The other person's lamp is a bright chandelier lighting up a dinner party. It's clear  these two lamps have significantly different meanings in the dreamers' lives. 

Fritz Perls' method facilitates people in interpreting their dreams through retelling them in the present and then having the therapist guide the person in identifying with and working out all the conflicts, dramas and symbols. This method usually can solve a dream in one session and can solve years of recurrent dreams. It can even result in people having an increase in the quality and quantity of dreams. 

Parenting Counseling and Counseling for Adolescents
and Children:

 A consistent aspect of my career in helping others through counseling and education has been to work with children, adolescents and parents. 

I work with kids who are needing help in communicating better with parents,  recovering from divorce,  adjusting to a new school or who want to lower stress in order to deal with a physical condition.

In my current practice I'm not set-up to work with child abuse, self-mutilation, suicidal expressions, delinquency, psychiatric diagnoses, custody problems, developmental disabilites, attachment disorder or other serious problems that require a team approach ,psychiatric intervention, or court availability.

 I see children and adolescents who are basically emotionally stable and are just needing some counseling to get them through a temporary difficult situation with family or peers, or who want to work on themselves through the modalities of The Body Knows, to improve helath. I can also assist adolescents in decision making about career and college options.


Parenting is an on-going learning situation for everyone who takes that role on. Most people will hit snags in parenting, and at those times counseling can be helpful. 

I have worked in the school system with thousands of adolescents and have observed many of the changes that children go through during this age.I've seen that kids face pressures because of all the traditional reasons, i.e., worry about acceptance by peers, bullying, school phobia or dissatisfaction, communication problems with parents, school pressure, but they are also dealing with a whole new set of problems that emerge from electronic communication.
 
Games, phones, chats, texting, 'my space', 'facebook' etc., contribute to a vulnerability that can leave kids feeling insecure and ungrounded in meaningful relationships. Often they are involved in a virtual sea of electronic communication that their parents are not privvy to.

At times this can lead to apathy about school or hobbies and it may be expressed by a lessenning of involvement in the family or in physical exercise and play. It can also cause depression if they get addicted to electronic games or get involved in negative electronic communication that leaves them feeling isolated or insulted and not knowing how to extricate themselves from it.

 Counseling and Consultation for Giftedness in Adults and Adolescents

I have a specialized training in helping gifted adolescents.

Often they are so busy achieving in academics and other areas such as their hobbies, arts groups or sports that their emotional development can take a back seat. Gifted people tend to be perfectionists, very sensitive, and oriented towards service. In school they may feel like they are running ahead of everyone else and this can lead to a sense of isolation. A general social attitude towards gifted people is "you're so smart you can figure anything out - you should't get depressed or need help"
and that can cause gifted adolescents to hide even further when they do feel confused, upset, angry, isolated or depressed. It can also lead to underachievement at school when they feel completely alienated from the 'system'.

Educational Consultation on Post-Secondary Education and Career Development for Adolescents

Did you know that ~
*Kids who receive special ed through 12th grade do not automatically get it in college? It is illegal for colleges to ask that on applications but they do provide services when students ask for it.
*High schoolers can get high school credit for some classes, get ahead through online college classes, supplement their coursework with online course, and are entitled to all sorts of vocational classes now provided by the Joint Technological Education District in Pima County
*High school kids who are really motivated can start college early - it's not guaranteed that they'll get in but it's possible if they have high SAT scores , recommendations and a good transcript.
*If you want to be a teacher you can go to Pima College for two years and finish out the next two through an online program with Indiana University at the same tuition as Pima.

I'm available to provide educational consultations to parents and teens on topics like these, as well as help with career decision making. Career choice involves not only knowing what is available but knowing oneself, for instance, if you want to be a nurse but you don't like following orders it's probably not going to work out too well.

Understanding one's own physical and emotional self helps project whether a career choice is realistic.

 Why go to counseling?

I believe that personal growth in Counseling is not only necessary for us to thrive, but is also great fun. It may involve some painful work, but it's a positive experience to discover ourselves ~ to open our minds, our subconscious, to become more amenable to the world and what it has to offer, and resolve old problems with relationships or with our own self-esteem. As a result of counseling  our lives can work better, flow better, and we can move ahead without the obstacles that were there before.