“As soon as you trust yourself,
you will know how to live.”
J.W. Goethe
Meet Dorit Tomandl (she/her)
My Personal Story
My personal life experiences and my own healing journey have equipped me to be a compassionate and curious companion on your path. I consider myself a ‘wounded healer’ – my parents were functioning alcoholics, my father was a little ‘too nice’ to me, and I was in an abusive marriage for more than 15 years. I experienced anxiety and depression; eating, shopping and ignoring my emotions were the tools I used to keep on going through life.
In 2012, I left my marriage and started my healing journey: I found a therapist who helped me to befriend the emotions I tried to avoid my entire life so that I could learn to have compassion for myself and find love and freedom within me. My therapist listened to me and gave me answers to the questions I didn’t know I had. They helped me to understand that I am not bad, but that bad things had happened to me.
I still feel sad or fearful and buy ice cream or shoes to ‘help’ myself sometimes. The big difference is that I know how to be with my emotions now, how to stay present with them without getting sucked into the downward spiral of darkness and emptiness. That it is OK to not be happy all the time, to embrace emotions such as sadness, fear or anger as a normal part of life. Emotional pain is not scary anymore, it is a portal to healing and finding a true loving connection with myself.
My Professional Story
My approach to therapy is rooted in the Internal Family Systems Model (IFS), I also incorporate teachings and wisdom from eastern traditions into the traditional western psychotherapy.
IFS is an evidence-based, cutting-edge model of therapy that will help you to:
- Get to know your various parts (subpersonalities),
- Target the specific psychological issues you want resolved
- Know your inner Wisdom/Self as the agent of transformation
- Access your wounded parts (trauma) for deep emotional healing
- Transform stuck parts of yourself into inner resources of strength, love, and freedom
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), and a Certified IFS Therapist (IFS Level 2).
Trainings: IFS Level 1 and 2
IFIO (Intimacy from the Inside Out), an approach to relationship counseling based on IFS – basic and advanced training
Somatic IFS training with Susan McConnell (IFS Senior Lead Trainer)
Inner Critic Training with Chris Burris (IFS Senior Lead Trainer)
Small Group Training with Frank Anderson (IFS Senior Lead Trainer)
Weekly Individual Consultation for my own parts work