About My Clients
I work with my clients to face their lives. This sounds simple, but it is often deceptively difficult and requires courage and patience. Our brains have many ways of protecting us from pain—we deny troubling realities, we avoid scary situations, and we push down uncomfortable and inconvenient feelings. All of this can be important and adaptive, but it can also prevent us from moving forward.
My Background and Approach
I believe that the therapeutic relationship is often the tool for change. Part of my role in that relationship is providing expertise. For that, I have speciality training in Exposure-Response Prevention, Emotion Focused Therapy for Couples, and LGBTQ+ Care. My practice also integrates attachment and existential-based frames, along with CBT, ACT, and DBT.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
Lodged within our most difficult parts of self, we often find wounds that long for warmth, acceptance, and love. Rather than fighting or ignoring these parts, we can learn to meet them with empathy and curiosity. In doing so, we cultivate a relationship with the self that is compassionate and honest. I also believe that people don't exist in a vacuum. The families we grew up in, the messages we absorbed about who we are and what we're worth, the systems we navigate every day — all these shape our inner lives and material realities. Part of my work is helping people distinguish between what belongs to them and what was handed to them — and recognizing that some of what feels like a personal failing is actually a reasonable response to an unreasonable situation.