Rachel Friendly (she|her|hers)

Being a woman in the world is hard! The gender roles that bind us are spoon-fed to us from birth: smile more, take up less space, eat less, talk less, think less - but care THE MOST. Sometimes it takes a while to see how those roles we were socialized into play out in our lives. Therapy can be a good place to explore those dynamics and experiment with new ways of being in the world that allow you to have a voice, rediscover your power, and cultivate self-love.

We are put into boxes by the world around us beginning at birth. But when the boxes don't fit, trying to squeeze into them can be excruciating. Gender expansiveness can feel scary, especially in today's political climate. I support intuitive, curious adults who want to explore their gender and find joy in sharing their authentic self with the world. Together, we can help you to become your truest, most beautiful self.

We are sorted into boxes by the world around us beginning before birth. But when the boxes don't fit, trying to squeeze into them can be excruciating. Being authentic in your gender expansiveness can feel scary, especially in today's political climate. I support intuitive, curious adults who want to explore their gender and find joy in sharing their truth with the world. Together, we can help you to become your truest, most beautiful self.

I work with queer adults who want to live authentically and own their identities, but who might not know where to start. Together we can explore what may be holding you back, to help you create your truest, most beautiful life. We can investigate the internalized messages that may lead to self-doubt or shame. And we can work on replacing those messages with curiosity, self-compassion, and self-love.

The systems of power and oppression in which we all live have significant impacts on our wellness (spoiler alert: this is true even for those carrying the power). The mental health field has historically focused on an individual brokenness model. But therapy that does not address the impact of those larger systems cannot get at the full picture of our lived experiences or the reasons we may experience the symptoms that we do. Feminist therapy takes all of these layers into account.

Humans are extremely social primates - our lives are governed by the quality of our relationships to a much larger extent than Western culture would have us believe. Relational therapy takes the view that addressing relational patterns is one key to significantly improving wellbeing, and that to do so, we can use the relationship between the therapist (me) and the client (you) to our benefit, as a powerful tool for change.

Whitman said, "I contain multitudes," and he was right! We all have lots of parts of our personalities clamoring to be heard. Many of the things that bring us to therapy are ultimately caused by parts that are trying to protect us (e.g., centering others needs protects us from others' lashing out or abandoning us, scrolling on our phones protects us from sitting with painful thoughts). IFS offers a way to heal these parts and increase self-trust and inner harmony.