Dan Walinsky (he/him/his)

I was drawn to psychology as a field in order to support diverse LGBTQ clients. I have extensive experience in exploring a range of issues that often emerge for LGBTQ people: coming out, self-acceptance and love, exploring identity, gender dysphoria, transition, and diverse relationship models, to name a few. I love supporting LGBTQ people of any age and set of life experiences as they navigate the world.

While anxiety is such a common experience these days, it's also a major source of stress. When working with anxiety, I typically have two goals: providing skills and exercises to relieve some of the immediate distress and learning to "listen" to anxiety - to discover what it may be telling us about our lives and selves.

As a relational therapist, what happens between you and me can sometimes replicate other relationships that you have in your life outside of therapy. As we get to know each other, we may look at how we are relating, and if we can find patterns in our relationship that are similar to other important relationships in your life. By looking at those patterns, we can sometimes find parts of you that are looking for some attention or healing.

Most people experience anxiety at some point in their life. Because anxiety is so uncomfortable, so much of the time, we often find ourselves exhausted by the ways that we've tried to manage it. When we learn to slow down and listen to it, it can give us valuable information about other emotional experiences happening below the surface. In working with you on anxiety, we will work on skills to help you to slow down, to notice what's present - both above and below the surface.

Both "big event" trauma, like a car accident, death of a loved one, abuse or assault, and more ongoing experiences of invalidation can lead to our thoughts and feelings being stuck. We may even experience the past as if it's happening in the present. EMDR is a way of letting the body, brain, and nervous system re-process memory so that it doesn't take hold of us in the same debilitating ways. I am trained in EMDR, which I often integrate with an approach called "parts work."

If you feel emotionally stuck, or as if you are living "on the surface" of experiences, AEDP is a caring way to helping you to expand and understand your emotional life. We will work on noticing patterns that maintain emotional patterns that don't work for you, and give you space to try new ones. AEDP is a great way to approach working on the adult impact of early life attachment traumas and issues related to family of origin. I am a Level 1 clinician, currently pursuing Level 2.

Attachment refers to the ways that we've developed internal beliefs about receiving and giving support and care, and how we "manage" feelings that come up related to closeness in relationships with others. Doing attachment work together can be a powerful and healing experience that can help us to understand our wants and needs in relationships, evaluate boundaries with others, and build the secure connections that we crave with partners and friends.