My Approach

My background

I received my doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Wright Institute. I draw on a number of different theoretical approaches in my psychotherapy practice, including psychoanalytic and psychodynamic modalities, trauma and somatic-based practices, sociocultural frameworks, and mindfulness-based techniques.

Core beliefs about the work

Developing a safe and trusting relationship with a therapist is essential. Through the process of therapy, it is normal for unresolved conflicts and unprocessed emotional experiences from the past to reemerge. Developing a meaningful relationship with a therapist can offer a new opportunity to work through and heal old wounds.

I believe that our early relationships and experiences, as well as the environments we grow up in, shape our development. Early wounds can have a lasting effect. In your family of origin, you may not have felt seen or attended to in the ways you needed. Perhaps you had to take on a caretaking role at a young age or were dealing with the challenges of inequitable and harmful sociocultural structures that left you feeling overwhelmed and defeated. You may have found ways of coping with difficulties that while adaptive at the time, may not be serving you any longer. Now these patterns or tendencies feel like they’re getting in the way or holding you back from a more meaningful life and fulfilling relationships. These patterns may exist outside of conscious awareness and influence your thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

I will listen closely and bring attention to all aspects of your experience to help you gain clarity and empower healing. I believe that through a safe and trusting relationship in therapy, we can identify old, harmful patterns and work through early wounds, hurts, and disappointments to allow for healing and growth. I believe that internal freedom comes from bringing light and understanding to previously hidden or unknown parts of your experience as you come to know yourself more fully.

Another core aspect of our work together includes helping you to tolerate and regulate the full range of emotional experience. We’ll do this by identifying and understanding your feelings and building capacities to deal with difficult emotional states and anxieties.

Dealing with too much or too little emotion and anxiety can be challenging. Intense emotions can leave us feeling flooded and overwhelmed whereas feeling detached and shut down can lead to feelings of hopelessness, indifference, and a general sense that your life and relationships lack meaning. Together, we’ll identify resources to help you slow down, think about your experience, and develop a greater sense of agency. The work of therapy helps you to integrate your thoughts and feelings in order to more effectively cope with life’s challenges.

I incorporate a social justice framework into my work as a lens through which we can see how we are all affected by inequality and injustice. I value exploring the effects of marginalization and systemic oppression and seek to create a space in which we can better understand the impact of injustice. Persistent experiences of “otherness” may have stripped away your sense of agency and self-worth. Together we will work to cultivate the internal resources that will lead to a greater sense of freedom and agency. I welcome people of diverse backgrounds, including age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender and sexual identities, abilities, and religions.

My style

I seek to provide a kind, thoughtful, grounded, and non-judgmental presence to support you in our work together. I aim to create a space in which the two of us can think deeply, with compassion and curiosity, about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

How I work

I generally work with clients on a long-term, ongoing basis, at a minimum of one session per week. Sessions are 50 minutes and are conducted over Zoom, phone, and/or in-person. This frequency allows you to settle in to the process of therapy and gain traction in working toward your goals. Many of my clients choose to meet more than once per week as they find that meeting more frequently allows for a deepening of the therapeutic experience and offers the opportunity to more fully explore the issues that are most important to them.

After a free brief initial phone consult to discuss your needs and assess fit, we’ll discuss scheduling an initial appointment and then meet for an initial consulting period to ensure I’m the right therapist to help you meet your goals. We will talk through what’s most alive and important to you, and after this period, we will determine whether to continue meeting on a longer-term basis.