Oakland Psychotherapy & Online Counseling

Therapy for confidence and self esteem

What is confidence | Negative self talk | Fear| Imposter Syndrome

How can I build my confidence?

Contrary to popular belief, confidence is not something most people are born with.

Confidence comes from doing scary things.

When you take risks, you grow. Getting out of your comfort zone defeats fear. But it feels safer to stay the same and not try new things….

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help get you out of your comfort zone.

Psychotherapy with Chloe helps you be less scared in life. We’ll talk about what’s important to you in life and what is getting in your way of achieving those things. ACT teaches us about “toward moves” and “away moves” with regards to our values.

Connecting to what gives you purpose in life motivates you to make changes and push yourself.

Spending time doing meaningful things is never a waste of time. However, sometimes these things are very difficult to do. Reaching out to a friend you haven’t spoken to in awhile, asking for a promotion, signing up for that class, volunteering in your limited free time, learning a new skill. These are not immediately easy to motivate yourself to do.

Learn skills to find motivation to overcome fear that holds you back from living a rich and fulfilling life.

Book a counseling session with Chloe to start building your confidence today!

Negative self talk

Chloe Demisch, LCSW offers counseling in Oakland to improve self esteem. We do this by exploring how negative self talk make us act in ways that usually aren’t our best selves.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you manage your negative self talk differently.

When you stop obeying everything your mind is telling you, you find freedom to be who you want to be. There are a lot of old stories we tell ourselves based on our past or what other people have criticized us for.

Learn how to disentangle yourselves from narratives that hold you back.

I will teach you about defusion, a technique that helps you have space from what your brain is telling you, so you can see other options and perspectives. Acceptance & commitment therapy teaches us to take ACTION so you can see some real changes in your life.

Psychotherapy motivates your positive growth.

When you’re doing things that give your life purpose, your self talk becomes more positive naturally.

Book with Chloe Demisch, Oakland therapist today to get therapy for building self esteem!

What to do with fear

Psychotherapy with Oakland therapist, Chloe Demisch, LCSW provides skills so your life isn’t ruled by fear anymore.

Fear keeps us stuck.

If you feel paralyzed because you are afraid of things, counseling can help you move past them so you’re not stuck.

Supportive counseling makes fear have less power over you.

When you understand how to use fear to challenge yourself or see it as a way to learn new things, it becomes less scary.

The more scary things you do, the braver you become.

And when you’re feeling brave, you’re feeling CONFIDENT!

Chloe Demisch, LCSW specializes in working through fear using Acceptance & Commitment Therapy.

Acceptance & commitment therapy for imposter syndrome

Feeling like you’re a fraud, especially at work, stops your from performing your best.

Dealing with imposter syndrome in therapy helps relieve work stress.

Constantly worrying that someone is going to “find you out” creates high levels of anxiety on a daily basis.

Counseling can help you relate to thoughts that you’re a “fake” in a different way so they don’t overtake your life.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy teaches defusion skills to create space between you and your thinking self. This way you don’t automatically believe every single thought that you have.

When your thoughts have less power over you, then you can be your best self and focus less on negative self talk.

Chloe Demisch, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist teaching clients how to be more confident using Acceptance & Commitment Therapy.

How fear can help us build confidence

Fear actually helps us survive. If we didn’t have fear, we might get hurt.

Fear helps us prepare.

We are wired to fight or flight. So when we feel scared, it’s our body’s way of telling us to get ready to keep ourselves safe.

But not all things that are scary are “bad”.

For example, it is scary to go on a first date. Socializing can be uncomfortable. Changing jobs is a risk. Trying a new workout is challenging. Learning new things is hard.

Avoiding discomfort keeps us from growing and improving.

We could just stay home, avoid meeting new people, stay in an unfulfilling job, stop exercising, or stay stuck in our routines because it is much more comfortable to do so.

However, our life becomes more and more narrow when we just stay “comfortable”.

So part of building confidence and self-esteem is taking risks. Getting uncomfortable. Letting yourself do things you’re afraid of, because you know they are good for you.

If you’re feeling uncomfortable, you’re probably doing something important.

This sounds counter intuitive, but usually things that bring us the most meaning and purpose in life, are difficult and scary. But once we have tried them, it’s easier to face that fear again. And again. And again. Until you and your life look the way you want them to look. And fear becomes less of a big deal because it’s often worth it!

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