About
LILIAN BORGES, LPC
Beyond Talk. Beyond Insight. Lasting Change
Since 1993, I've been helping people who are motivated and ready for change in their lives through working with individuals and couples in therapy, sharing insights through my writing and my podcast, and teaching and conducting professional training.
Brazilian by birth and living in Phoenix, Arizona, I understand multicultural issues naturally, and offer and teach psychotherapy in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Experience & Perspective
My clinical and teaching work integrate hypnosis and other experiential techniques, offering innovative and practical tools for personal and relational healing. My multicultural background make me especially skilled in working with diverse couples and individuals, and I offer therapy, training, and workshops worldwide.
Areas of Expertise
My specializations include work with couples and using experiential techniques, including hypnosis, to help clients identify blockages and areas of conflict and address them in practical repeatable ways.
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Hypnosis is a therapeutic technique in which I use guided relaxation to induce a trance-like state, allowing clients access to the subconscious mind to alter behaviors, habits, and perceptions. It treats conditions like anxiety, phobias, smoking, and pain. Benefits include improved mental/physical control, stress reduction, and habit cessation.
My clients are able to access the 90% of their minds that is subconscious, bypassing their critical conscious mind. It can help with habit control (smoking cessation, weight loss, etc.), general mental health (treating anxiety, stress, PTSD, panic attacks, and mood disorders), physical issues (pain management, hot flashes, and skin conditions), and performance (enhancing athletic or public speaking performance).
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My couples therapy style is more "action" therapy and less "talk" therapy. I like having a clear plan to address the specific issues each couple present instead of trying to focus solely on feelings, communication skills, or insight. Insight and understanding are important, but they don’t necessarily change behavior.
I like using experiential techniques that make the process more dynamic and less going over the "fight of the week"; it's more about the processes and dynamics that are problematic to the couple. The experiential approach helps the couple find solutions or new ways to approach difficult situations and chronic problems in real time instead of doing the same thing over and over again with the same negative results, or having the same fight over and over again.
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Individual therapy can help you overcome obstacles to well-being, manage symptoms of anxiety or depression, develop healthy coping mechanisms, and improve quality of life. This is a joint process between the therapist and the client: I want you to learn skills that will stay with you going forward. I can help you make lifestyle changes, identify and replace behaviors that may have served you well in the past but don't any longer, and manage difficult situations.
Training & Clinical Approaches
I draw from a number of clinical approaches, including PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy), Ericksonian hypnosis, and solution-focused therapy, and I provide training in all these areas. I have found that in particular hypnosis integrates with many other treatment modalities.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
CBT is a structured, short-term, goal-oriented psychotherapy that changes negative thought
patterns and behaviors to
improve your emotional self-regulation. It focuses on present-day challenges, helping you identify, challenge, and replace your negative thinking.
Mindfulness Therapy
Mindfulness focuses intentionally on the present with kindness
and non-judgment, not dwelling
on the past or worrying about the future. It includes breathing exercises, body scans, and mindful daily activities, and it can be used in conjunction with other techniques.
PACT
Therapy
PACT is a type of couples therapy that helps you access and
examine less-than-optimal moments with an experiential approach, bringing the issue to
the present moment, helping you regulate yourself and your relationship partner, and improve communication and security.
Ericksonian
Therapy
This is a particular style of
hypnosis developed and taught
by psychiatrist Milton Erickson. It describes a very specific form of hypnosis that uses indirect suggestion, metaphor, and storytelling to alter behavior,
rather than giving you direct hypnotic suggestions.
Couples’
therapy
Spirituality & Meditation
Ericksonian Strategic Therapy
Who I work with
I work with a wide range of individuals, couples, and groups to help people understand their feelings, change negative thought patterns, improve coping skills, and manage daily stressors.
My ideal client is an individual or couple engaged in the process of growth, someone who is willing to do the work, look inside, and make necessary changes.
The areas I work in include:
Relationships & Communication
Hypnotherapy
Solution-Focused Therapy
Multicultural
Issues
Brief
Therapy
Medical
Hypnosis
Women’s
Issues
Mindfulness
Anxiety
Disorders
TESTIMONIALS
Kind words from past clients
“Lilian’s superpower—her unique blend of warmth and grit—helps couples break free from old stories and create new ones. She brings this same dynamic energy to her teaching and podcasting. An accessible expert and generous collaborator, Lilian’s knowing smile lights the path forward.”
“I am genuinely delighted when I know I will have an opportunity to teach or consult with Lilian. She is a warm, authentic person. She is also a highly experienced, skilled teacher, therapist and consultant. I enthusiastically endorse Lilian!”
“Working with her isn’t just about talking things through; it’s about shifting patterns on a practical level, while also gently helping you process unresolved wounds from your past that may be affecting your relationship today. Her skill, expertise, and personality make her a phenomenal therapist”
Teaching & Public Work
I teach Ericksonian Hypnosis and related approaches in the Intensive Training programs of the Erickson Foundation, where I do weekly trainings. I am also a PACT-Certified Therapist and Teacher, bringing advanced expertise to couples therapists.
Licensing & Professional Information
I'm a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Arizona. My undergraduate work was at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, where I practiced for ten years before moving to the US; I also have a master's degree in clinical psychology.
Book Your Initial Consultation
I offer a fifteen-minute initial consultation for us to determine if we’re a good fit together.