STYLE

Clients and fit: I work with people (from age 10 up) who want to deepen their relationships, explore their personal trauma, and who are looking for a non-directive, actively empathetic, curious and insightful therapist. You can expect to be challenged toward greater self-compassion and contextual understanding of your life. I work best with those who are motivated toward transformation and healing. I don’t often offer homework, but instead present somatic (body-based) practices, and open exploration around attachment styles, family of origin, conflict models, and emotions/thoughts relating to meaning and existence. My deepest hope for you, as a potential client, is that if we connect, you will find therapy to be a space where you are accurately/empathically seen, and can grow in self-compassion.

I’d love to work with you if these are some things you’ve thought to yourself:
“I wish I knew how to express my boundaries and didn’t have to carry so much of the mental and emotional load in my relationships.”
“I’ve been in the process of deconstructing faith or my religious background and want to unravel the places of spiritual abuse and trauma, and see where to go from there.”
“I don’t feel fulfilled in my life, and struggle with loneliness and self-esteem. I don’t know where to start.”
“I’m going through (or have gone through) a divorce, and I feel totally overwhelmed about rebuilding my life.”

Couples or Family Counseling: I have worked with pairs of siblings, with married and unmarried couples, and with family members (parent-child, etc.). When it comes to this area of counseling, I try to explore family of origin and attachment styles, desired relational/emotional experience (how do participants in the relationship want to feel, what would healthier connection look/feel like), and focus on recognizing strengths and areas for growth. Some books I recommend around this are: Attached by Amir Levine and Rachel S. F. Heller, Non-Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg, No More Mediocre by Laura Danger, and Family Ties that Bind by Dr. Ronald W. Richardson.

Therapeutic Lens and Modalities: I view relational interactions through an attachment theory lens and a framework of justice/anti-oppression. I work in an Attachment Based (John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth), Somatic (body-based/mindfulness/neuroscience/polyvagal theory: Dan Siegel, Peter Levine, Gabor Maté), Psychodynamic (Alfred Ainsworth, Erik Erikson) Existentialist/meaning-making (Victor Frankl, Irvin Yalom), Narrative Therapy (Dan Allender, Michael White, Bessel Van der Kolk, Alice Morgan), Intersectionality (Kimberlé Crenshaw), Feminist (bell hooks) frame. I use some Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Emotionally-Focused Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Internal Family Systems interventions, but do not use those modalities primarily or fully.

Any other questions? Reach out to me!