Dr. K has experience working in diverse clinical settings and with clients of all ages. Trained in many different styles of therapy and also guided by the latest discoveries from the field of neuroscience, Dr. K uses holistic approaches to therapy when working with children and their families. She believes in the importance of using thorough and systematic approaches to
identifying the source of her clients' present life difficulties, and offers practical and relevant counseling interventions to help her clients achieve their goals so that they can become their most empowered selves. In this way, she is able to guide her clients to live effective, happy and meaningful lives.
Dr. K specializes in helping clients with:
- depression,
- anxiety,
- abuse and neglect,
- grief and loss,
- PTSD,
- school or behavioral problems,
- ADHD,
- family issues,
- parenting,
- crisis and trauma,
- as well as chronic pain and medical conditions.
She focuses on using effective evidence-based techniques including:
- culturally-sensitive, relational approaches,
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy,
- Somatic Relational Therapy
- and other approaches best suited to each of her clients, their families and their present situation.
Dr. K also works very closely with pediatricians, schools, psychiatrists, and other providers out in the community to help advocate for her clients and to help ensure continuity of services for her clients and their families.
Dr. K has taught and lectured at various colleges and universities, including Oklahoma Community College and Texas Woman's University.
In addition to this, she is the author of several publications including a journal article in the Texas Childcare Quarterly on childhood attachment and articles at a state and international conference focused on promoting learning in children.
A note from Dr. K
My work
In my work, I listen to what the client speaks verbally and through his or her body. I pay special attention to my client's unspoken words that are expressed through subtle movements and gestures. Through empathic attunement with the client, I become aware of what he or she is experiencing in the here and now of the therapeutic process, as well as in his or her past. I am also impacted by client's painful experiences and resonate with his or her feeling states. I provide a safe container and become a witness to client's painful past, through which a facilitating environment is created for him or her to heal the wounds of his or her traumatic past. The client can then become free of his or her earlier experiences and can feel joy and pleasure of living and being alive, loving and being loved.
My work is deep and relational. Most of us were hurt, harmed, wounded and/or possibly traumatized in early relationships (mostly with significant caretakers). It thus, takes a relationship to heal us, a relationship in which we are seen, heard, and felt unconditionally and non-judgmentally with respect, empathy, and love for who we truly are. It is within such a relationship that our early defenses can be worked through and our early psychological wounds healed. The results are spontaneity, motility, benevolence, freedom, and love, which are all characteristics of healthy children, and adults who did not grow up in emotionally impoverished environments.
Background & Training
My interest and passion in psychology goes back to several decades ago when I was an undergraduate. I began my own (ongoing) Psycho-Somatic analysis in early 2014, and subsequently joined the Psychodrama training program. I began my graduate studies in Clinical Psychology in 2010 and graduated in 2016. I have had training in many modalities within the field of Somatic Psychotherapy, including Sensory Awareness, Authentic Movement, Focusing, Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, Gestalt, etc. In my work, I also employ interventions based on object relations theory, self-psychology, conflict and ego psychology, existential and narrative theories and therapies, Gestalt, as well as cognitive and behavioral techniques. My work is also guided by latest results and discoveries from the field of neuroscience.
My life prior to psychotherapy
I spent the last several years working in non-profit agencies with special needs children and their families, and teaching at Texas Woman's University. My training and education has enabled me to work with individuals of all ages, cultures, and populations, with an emphasis on meeting each client's concerns. While working in her graduate and post-graduate internships. I was privileged to work for three years with over forty victims of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse whose ages ranged from three to sixty years old. By working with this population, I gained the experience needed to collaborate in multiple projects which were supported by the TWU Human Development Department.
Selected Publications
- Keramati, S.Y (2014). Attachment: Bringing Childhood Behavior Theory to Real Life. Texas Childcare Quarterly, 4(37).
- Moore, L. & Keramati, S.Y. (2014, February). Promoting Math and Science Learning in Head Start Classrooms: A Longitudinal Project. Conference organized by the Head Start Greater Dallas Summit on Childhood a success, Dallas, Texas
- Keramati, S.Y. & Korie, D. (2014, March). Children Caring for Aging Parents. State Conference organized by Texas CFR 2014 Summit on Healthy Family, Ft. Worth, Texas
- Moore, L. & Keramati, S.Y. (2014, April). Promoting Math and Science Learning in Head Start Classrooms: A Longitudinal Project .International Conference organized by the ACEI 2014 Global Summit on Childhood a success, Vancouver, Canada