The ocean of tears cannot drown us if karuna is there.
Thich Nhat Hanh
Karuna is the Buddhist word for compassion. Compassion is at the core of all of our therapeutic strategies. Compassion for ourselves. Compassion for others.
Rob and Julie Terry founded Karuna Healing in 2022. After 20 years of a tumultuous marriage experiencing the trauma and chaos of sex addiction recovery, we found lasting healing. We decided to dedicate our professional careers to providing optimal care individuals and couples struggling with sex addiction and betrayal trauma. Karuna Healing is the fruit of that work.
Karuna Approach General Philosophy:
- While everyone’s path is different, our personal experience helps give confidence and insight to clients embarking on the same journey
- We are obsessed with research, trainings, and best practices
- Sex addiction and betrayal trauma is relational and is best treated from a relationship perspective
Karuna Approach Therapeutic Philosophy:
- We believe in a person-centered Rogerian approach. We hold the belief that within a therapeutic relationship characterized by safety, empathy, compassion, and unconditional positive regard, a client will flourish and access inner strength for healing
- We have a strong attachment/trauma lens, understanding generally that most of our mental health symptoms come from insecure attachment
- We utilize Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness, and CBT for short-term gains in emotion regulation
- We utilize IFS, EMDR, and other modalities for deeper trauma and attachment work and long-lasting healing
- Because of our personal and professional experience, we can identify times when clients need to be gently confronted or challenged to make progress towards their goals
Karuna Approach Sex Addiction Philosophy. We have training in and integrate and balance the following philosophies:
- CSAT model–the Patrick Carnes IITAP abstinence-based addiction model which treats sex addiction as a true addiction and is heavily based in Twelve Steps
- OCSB model–created by Douglas Braun-Harvey and favored by the CST community. This is a values-based model that some use to oppose the addiction model. We harmonize the models.
- Oman Minwalla Integrity Abuse Disorder model–this model believes the addiction model is too “soft” and compares sexually acting out in a relationship to abuse and narcissism
Karuna Approach to Betrayal Trauma
- We reject the Codependency model which pathologizes the betrayed partner
- We are trained in betrayal trauma treatment from APSATS and IITAP
- We treat the trauma, acknowledging that sexual betrayal in a committed relationship can be a severe trauma and causes PTSD symptoms
Karuna Approach to Couples Counseling
For men: we have a bias that long-term relationships are very valuable and hope our clients can choose their partner and succeed in repairing their relationships. For women: we teach them to be wise and move towards self-sufficiency, separation, and divorce in case her partner doesn’t make steps towards recovery. As the betraying partner makes repair, we help the women make careful, calculated risks towards reconciliation. Our therapeutic philosophy for couples includes:
- Carol Jurgensen Sheets Early Couples Recovery (ERCEM) Model. Early couples recovery counseling is recommended immediately (we don’t recommend waiting while both do individual recovery). It is not traditional couples counseling.
- Terry Real RLT Therapy. We are trained in RLT and find it to be a perfect fit for early couples recovery. In RLT, we are not afraid to take sides and put pressure on the offending partner to “clean up their mess”.
- Gottman Method. We are trained in Gottman Method Level 1 and Gottman Infidelity Recovery. This method is also called “Atone, Attune, Attach”
- As the couple progresses out of “early couples recovery”, we also incorporate Sue Johnson’s EFT with attachment lens, Stan Tatkin’s “couple bubble”, Bercaw’s guidelines on sexual integration post-infidelity, etc
