Narrative Based Therapy
Please note: I am not currently accepting new clients. Thank you for understanding!
HB Psychotherapy, PLC is a small private psychotherapy practice operated by myself, Hannah Bousek, MA, LMFT (she/her/hers). I am a licensed Marital and Family Therapist in Iowa serving adults in the state of Iowa via telehealth videos. I have worked in the mental health field since 2014 and now focus on death/dying, anticipatory death (whether your own or of an important other - including animals), grief and loss, and people in helping-profession roles experiencing compassion fatigue or burnout. I use narrative, collaborative approaches and have 114 hours in continuing education within Narrative Therapy.
I think the metaphor of stories are useful. We all tell, hear, and hold stories. Stories can richly describe one's dreams, identities, cherished values, relationships, and skills; stories can also tell the tale of sorrow, suffering, and unwanted loss or changes. Stories are often filled with influential ideas about how the world, relationships, and ourselves work, including our sense of self. Grief, loss, and professional duress can cast all of this into question - for better or for worse, but often with some blend of pain, suffering, reflection, and accommodation to a new kind of life.
I help people gently explore painful stories and experiences, deconstruct unhelpful internalized ideas or expectations, and construct what they find more meaningful and preferred for themselves, their relationships, and/or their work. I help people to re-author and reclaim what is precious to them, including personal identities but also relationships with people who have died or otherwise contributed to one's life. This is done with rich meaning construction through questions and conversations together.
Hannah Bousek
MA, LMFT