I am an active, goal-directed therapist who is also caring, clever and playful, integrating more than 22 years of practice across many models of therapy.
But I genuinely see what is right about you a lot and hold that with change. And I am very "consent" driven, which means I tell you what I would like to try and why, and see if you are a yes before we keep talking about or feeling something. And I am always listening to your nervous system, when it is saying, "Hey, slow down here."
A typical session often begins with a simple question:
“What would you like to focus on today, or what is your hope for our time together?”
Sometimes you may come in with a specific problem, and together we clarify the outcome or shift you are hoping for. Sometimes you just want support. Sometimes there is just a feeling in your body or a mood sticking around. Or, in my specialty, you find yourself repeating things in relationships that you don't want to repeat. From there, we explore how your whole human system is holding this problem in your thoughts, your nervous system, your body, and even through metaphor.
We slow down and listen closely:
🔷to the different parts of you that might be protecting you
🔷to the signals of your body and nervous system
🔷to the parts of you that long for change and the parts that resist it
🔷to the ways you may be shaming yourself
This is one example. What we are really doing is a close accompaniment of your inner system, paying attention to what it is doing so we can find where movement and healing are possible.
Our relationship is also part of the work. At times, we may notice together what arises between us and use this as a source of awareness and growth. I am particularly skilled at identifying relational patterns and studying the attachment system and neurobiology, and I bring this attentiveness to the therapy process.
Sometimes we will laugh. Sometimes we will be quiet and turn inward. Sometimes we will let different parts of you speak to one another.
The models that most inform my work are:
🟢Internal Family Systems
🟢Couples Therapy approaches (Developmental, Terry Real, EFT, Gottman, Esther Perel, William Doherty, Process Work)
🟢Somatic and trauma-informed therapies (STAIR, NARM, Sensorimotor
🟢Psychotherapy, EMDR, Hakomi, Memory Reconsolidation)
🟢Psychodynamic, Process-Oriented, and Jungian perspectives
🟢ACT and Motivational Interviewing