Affirming, Evidence-Based Therapy

Creating a respectful, affirming relationship that offers insight and support in the midst of anxiety and struggle.

We are all experiencing life: the good, the bad, and the painful. I hope that you don’t have to face your challenges alone. I believe that you are trying to move away from trauma, anxiety, and depression toward healing. My goal is to help you gain awareness, understanding, and use that information to heal. By understanding your experiences and emotions you can improve your life.

The Therapeutic Approach

Good therapy is based on a supportive and respectful relationship between a client and a therapist. My approach to therapy is highly collaborative and humanistic. I believe you are trying to move forward and heal - I’m going to walk with you on that path. Together we create a safe space where you improve your awareness, explore your experiences, notice patterns in your life, and notice how these contribute to your functioning and sense of self. These insights allow you to consider alternative perspectives, utilize your strengths, and choose new, more adaptive behaviors.

Creating Safety

Therapy is the work of opening up and exploring your self. Examining your thoughts, actions, and reactions to better function in your universe. Discussing these private experiences requires vulnerability; therefore, the therapeutic relationship must be one of safety. My aim is to provide you with privacy and nonjudgment. We are all trying. Sometimes we get stuck and do not have the tools necessary to move forward. I hope to meet you where you are, listen to your experience, be emotionally present, supportive, and provide you with new insights and tools that may be useful.

Specialties

I specialize in evidence-based therapies for treating symptoms of anxiety and sadness. What this looks like for one person may manifest differently in another person. Many times my clients have chronic, visceral reactions to experiences in their lives. They may have a history of trauma in childhood or have experienced trauma as adults. These experiences leave them feeling tense, reactive, and not like themselves. I work with people who are grieving the death of a loved one, adjusting to new and often difficult lifestyles, responding to serious medical diagnoses, or taking on the role of caregiver for a family member.

Sometimes strong visceral reactions accompany what people normally think of as happy events, like the birth of a child. The impact of sleep loss, nursing issues, and peri/postpartum concerns can be an unexpected shock. Symptoms like grief, panic attacks, anxiety, depression, and PTSD can accompany these events. Sometimes, with big body changes, like serious medical diagnoses, there is a sense of body betrayal. There are techniques like brain spotting, diaphragmatic breathing, focus changing, cognitive behavioral reframes, trigger recognition, and successive approximation that help bring understanding, change, and a sense of control.

Affirmative evidence based therapy life transitions adjustments

I am particularly interested in healing the impact of long-term stress on a person’s lifestyle patterns. My clients are generally at a crossroad in life, making complex decisions about how they would like to move forward and define their path as well as themselves. If you are seeking collaboration on how to move forward to more effectively achieve your goals, please contact me.