Leah West

I specialize in working with PTSD and trauma. PTSD is a set of physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms that emerge from exposure to violence, neglect, abuse, or other chronically painful experiences. These symptoms, hypervigilance, anxiety, dissociation, nightmares, exhaustion, are your body and mind’s way of navigating an unpredictable and unsafe environment. In therapy, I help you process these experiences, reduce their grip, and begin to reclaim a sense of safety and stability

I specialize in treating eating disorders and disordered eating. These struggles are not vanity or weakness, they are survival strategies shaped by trauma, stress, and a culture obsessed with thinness. Eating disorders often emerge as ways to manage unbearable emotions or reclaim control, but they’re also tied to rigid cultural rules about body, beauty, and worth. In therapy, I help clients challenge those rules, heal their relationship with food and body, and move toward freedom and dignity

I work with clients experiencing burnout, or rather the emotional, physical, and spiritual exhaustion that comes from giving more than you have while systems demand more than you can give. Burnout is not just stress; it’s what happens when survival mode becomes a way of life. It shows up as fatigue, irritability, detachment, and hopelessness, often tied to work, caregiving, or activism. In therapy, I help clients reclaim rest, boundaries, and vitality without shame.

A feminist perspective reframes struggle as a response to cultural demands, power imbalances, and systemic oppression. This is not about politics as an add-on; it is about acknowledging reality. When clients can see that their distress has context, it creates both dignity and relief. They are not broken. They are human beings responding to environments that have demanded too much.

The therapeutic alliance is not just a backdrop, it is the engine of change. Many clients come with histories of disconnection, neglect, or rupture, and the very act of experiencing consistency, honesty, and attunement in therapy is itself reparative. Attachment theory gives us a frame to understand why the bond matters, and why the rituals of showing up, being seen, and staying present can infuse a salve into the pain of isolation and disconnection.

IFS honors the multiplicity within each of us, the parts that protect, the parts that carry wounds, the parts that long for freedom. In session, IFS provides a language for dialogue with these inner figures, which often mirrors the ritual of dialogue happening between therapist and client. It is a model that treats clients not as collections of symptoms but as systems of wisdom, survival, and creativity. For many clients, this becomes the bridge between overwhelm and restoration.

I work with clients experiencing burnout, or rather the emotional, physical, and spiritual exhaustion that comes from giving more than you have while systems demand more than you can give. Burnout is not just stress; it’s what happens when survival mode becomes a way of life. It shows up as fatigue, irritability, detachment, and hopelessness, often tied to work, caregiving, or activism. In therapy, I help clients reclaim rest, boundaries, and vitality without shame.

I specialize in working with PTSD and trauma. PTSD is a set of physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms that emerge from exposure to violence, neglect, abuse, or other chronically painful experiences. These symptoms, hypervigilance, anxiety, dissociation, nightmares, exhaustion, are your body and mind’s way of navigating an unpredictable and unsafe environment. In therapy, I help you process these experiences, reduce their grip, and begin to reclaim a sense of safety and stability

I specialize in treating eating disorders and disordered eating. These struggles are not vanity or weakness, they are survival strategies shaped by trauma, stress, and a culture obsessed with thinness. Eating disorders often emerge as ways to manage unbearable emotions or reclaim control, but they’re also tied to rigid cultural rules about body, beauty, and worth. In therapy, I help clients challenge those rules, heal their relationship with food and body, and move toward freedom and dignity

I specialize in working with PTSD and trauma. PTSD is a set of physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms that emerge from exposure to violence, neglect, abuse, or other chronically painful experiences. These symptoms, hypervigilance, anxiety, dissociation, nightmares, exhaustion, are your body and mind’s way of navigating an unpredictable and unsafe environment. In therapy, I help you process these experiences, reduce their grip, and begin to reclaim a sense of safety and stability

I specialize in treating eating disorders and disordered eating. These struggles are not vanity or weakness, they are survival strategies shaped by trauma, stress, and a culture obsessed with thinness. Eating disorders often emerge as ways to manage unbearable emotions or reclaim control, but they’re also tied to rigid cultural rules about body, beauty, and worth. In therapy, I help clients challenge those rules, heal their relationship with food and body, and move toward freedom and dignity

I work with clients experiencing burnout, or rather the emotional, physical, and spiritual exhaustion that comes from giving more than you have while systems demand more than you can give. Burnout is not just stress; it’s what happens when survival mode becomes a way of life. It shows up as fatigue, irritability, detachment, and hopelessness, often tied to work, caregiving, or activism. In therapy, I help clients reclaim rest, boundaries, and vitality without shame.