Alexandra Miro (she/her)

I once read someone explain depression as "feeling as though your head has been filled with concrete." I find this comparison to be accurate because depression feels heavy, makes your thinking cloudy, and makes it incredibly hard to function in your daily life as you normally would. If you have depression, we can collaborate on ways to make daily life feel approachable again, while identifying unhelpful thoughts & beliefs that negatively impact your moods.

One of our brain's most important jobs is to keep us safe. This is a good thing, but can become counterproductive when danger is detected in situations that are actually safe. Anxiety is the result of our brains detecting danger, both real & imagined. If you struggle with daily anxiety, excessive worry, or panic attacks, there are many things we can do to ease this suffering. We can work together to identify relaxation skills, challenge unhelpful thoughts, & help you face feared situations.

OCD is extremely anxiety-inducing. It also feeds off of unhelpful guilt and shame. Many people with OCD live with distressing, intrusive thoughts that are unwanted and leave them asking, "Why would I ever think something like that?" This can result in exhausting rituals that only relieve anxiety temporarily. If you have OCD, we can collaborate on a plan to help you be more compassionate towards yourself while proving to your brain that rituals/compulsions are unnecessary.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts directly impact our emotions and behaviors. If you said "Hello" to a stranger on the street and they didn't respond, how would you feel? Would you not care and move about your day? Would you become angry? Would you be embarrassed? The emotion you experience is based on the thoughts you have. If you are struggling with anxiety, depression, anger, or many other symptoms, let's dive into your thought patterns and challenge them!

Exposure Therapy is especially helpful for anxiety, panic, phobias, and OCD. If you struggle with any of these diagnoses, we can work together to create an exposure plan. Exposure plans help us identify specific situations that trigger anxiety or distress for you. We then rank those triggers from least to most distressing. Starting with the least distressing trigger, we can work on ways to expose you to these situations without it being overwhelming. This can greatly decrease anxiety.

Many people I meet describe themselves as feeling lost, or like they don't know who they are. Many times, when we feel this way, it is because we are not living a life that is aligned with our own unique values. We can work together to identify what you value as an individual, and ways to start building a life that is consistent with those values. This can be a great path to living a life that feels authentic to you.

The person you were in the midst of a traumatic experience is not who you are, it's who you had to be to survive during that time. Trauma therapy has many focuses, one of which is helping you honor who you had to be, while identifying who you want to be post-trauma. The aftermath of trauma can result in us being stuck in a fight, flight, or freeze (shut down) mode. Trauma therapy can assist in getting un-stuck.

When we are experiencing distressing emotions, we get so caught up in our thoughts that we lose contact with the body. This is important because many times, our bodies are trying to communicate something to us. I utilize body-centered approaches to help you understand how certain emotions feel in your body. There's a saying - "If you can name it, you can tame it." The first step of this is to feel it.