Spirituality

I have experience in multiple spiritual traditions, and have experienced challenges, breakthroughs, and more challenges in my own journey. I believe the ability to talk openly and freely about one's experience is crucial to the path. Part of my personal journey includes the use of sacred plant medicine, and I can help you with psychedelic integration. I can also help you cultivate a meditation practice and develop metta (loving-kindness) for yourself and others.

Spirituality can be a great source of significant strength, support, and peace. Alternatively, spirituality can be a source of much pain, marginalization, and trauma. I am experienced with considering faith as an important factor in exploring the intersection of various life domains and concerns, and with helping clients consider their relationship with spirituality as they navigate identity development, life transitions, etc.

I work with clients to explore and develop rich spiritual lives. I approach this work from a non-denominational perspective with the aim of investigating the psychological mechanisms that are present in religious and spiritual experiences. I hope to help clients refine their sense of self-in-the-world, where they can reassess their values and what determines a meaningful life.

Spirituality is central to many people’s sense of meaning and purpose. I honor each client’s personal beliefs and understand faith can provide comfort. My specialty is supporting those going through post-religious deconstruction or recovering from religious trauma. With care and without judgment, I help people process grief, anger, loss of community and identity that often accompany deconstruction. My goal is to assist you in reconnecting to your inherent worth beyond dogma.

Spirituality is best understood as our sense of being fully human, experiencing ourselves as a part of life, not an object in isolation. Healthy spirituality doesn't require a theistic understanding, and having a theistic understanding doesn't guarantee us feeling fully human. I am a respectful and knowledgable therapist for those not interested in religion, religious minorities, AND those who seek a more meaningful connection to their own mainstream religion.

I offer secular counseling for people experiencing questions around religious belief, loss of faith, or searching for sense of meaning in a seemingly meaningless world. I help those who are looking to heal from religious trauma, looking to rebuild their sense of self, and help create a new path from this new identity. I also strive to create a space for those who are questioning aspects of their beliefs that no longer feel true but still wish to maintain their spiritual and religious traditions.

I believe we are spiritual beings having a human experience. As an ordained Interfaith/Interspiritual minister, my experience and training have prepared me to assist you in developing your spiritual self in a way that strengthens and supports your life.

I believe that, broadly speaking, spirituality is a concern for everyone. The big picture and the largest questions of life are contained in it. What do you value? What do you worship? As David Foster Wallace said, "there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship...If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough."

I believe that, broadly speaking, spirituality is a concern for everyone. The big picture and the largest questions of life are contained in it. What do you value? What do you worship? As David Foster Wallace said, "there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship...If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough."

I believe that spirituality is a concern for everyone. What do you value? What do you worship? As David Foster Wallace wrote, "there is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship...If you worship money and things ... then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough."

If spirituality is important to a client, I find it extremely helpful for healing to incorporate that within the framework of therapy. I believe that spirituality is a personal journey that can create immense impact in people's healing.

During our time together, we will explore beliefs and practices related to meaning, existence, and spiritual health and healing. I often speak about spirituality in terms of the Universe and our connection to ourselves and the connection to something larger than ourselves. I will support you in exploring what your unique sense of spirituality means to you.

I have a passion for helping clients navigate what their own spirituality looks like and how they can incorporate it into their lives. I have experience with helping clients overcome religious trauma and explore and cultivate their own unique connection to themselves and others -- no matter what that looks like. I rely on my own spirituality to guide me in work with clients and offer a warm and open space to explore beliefs and connection to oneself and others!

I have lived experience related to healing from religious trauma and the impact of purity culture, the grief of faith deconstruction, and the relational dynamics that go along with a significant faith transition. Additionally, I have sought out additional training to support my work with folks who are interested in navigating religious trauma, faith deconstruction, or simply wanting more depth in their spiritual life.

I earned my PhD in clinical psychology by studying spirituality and transformation. As faculty at Yale University, I conducted research with atypical psychedelic substances. My first published article was on the spiritual and psychedelic potential of dextromethorphan. I have written and spoken about psychedelic science for over a decade, co-founded the Yale Psychedelic Science Group, and documented traditional healing and religious practices in Mexico.

Spirituality is not synonymous with religion. It is the intentional practice of conscious awareness that our existence transcends our physical body and influences the existence of all that surrounds us. Growing as spiritual beings leads us to open our mind and heart to trust our intuitive wisdom that our body sensations gift us daily, so that we may be in constant connection with our true purpose in order to thrive in all that we are and all that we do.

How do you understand your place in the universe? Whether we are atheist, agnostic, religious, spiritual, or recovering from religion trauma, we all grapple with who we are in this world and how to find meaning and purpose. My graduate degree specialization is in mindfulness-based transpersonal counseling, and I utilize a variety of approaches in secular Buddhist and transpersonal psychology to help you define your sense of spirituality (or lack thereof) on your own terms.