Individual Psychotherapy
Getting started in therapy can be overwhelming. You've probably been struggling for a while, thinking everything would be fine in a few days... next week... next month... Making the decision to reach out to a therapist is a big first step! Take a moment to acknowledge your bravery. I welcome diversity in my practice - gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability, age, religion, size - everyone is welcome here.
Why therapy? It may feel indulgent to pay someone to talk to. Maybe it seems like too much of a time commitment with everything else that's going on. Can't I just talk to my friends? Partner? Why can't my child just tell me what's wrong? Collaborating with a therapist offers much more than unloading on a friend or family member. For one thing, it's all about you. My focus is accepting you as you are - and processing your emotions, past issues, and present concerns, hopes and wishes in a safe and connected relationship.
Above everything else, therapy is about the relationship. In fact, the quality of the relationship between the therapist and client predict the most successful outcomes. I approach my clients with unconditional positive regard, quickly establishing a sense of trust and safety. We will collaborate, laugh, cry, and grow together. We'll find your strengths, and use the resources you develop to resolve what you're struggling with.
You've probably been to a therapist before, and it hasn't quite felt right. Or maybe you liked them, but felt disconnected from their approach. Felt that there was a way to work more deeply with your emotions, but your therapist wanted to talk about your thoughts, and give you homework. Felt really bogged down in the details, and the negative, of what's been going on in your life. Haven't really laughed.
In our work together, we will privilege the positive. We will laugh. (And likely cry, too.) We'll develop a relationship that will "undo the aloneness" that we feel when our emotions are held within for waaaay too long. Therapy is specifically tailored to the person who is sitting in front of me, and will look different for everyone. Above everything, you will be heard and seen.
I offer trauma-informed psychotherapy for individual adults - specifically anxious, creative, sensitive people - and approach our time together with the desire to connect with you and help you have a new and safe experience with emotion. I often consider myself more of an emotion coach than anything else. Emotions are not good or bad, they just are - but that’s not something most of us have learned. Instead we brace against them or tuck them away - but they always find their way to the surface. They just might look a little different than we typically imagine emotions to look - chronic pain, migraine, stress, anger, disconnection, depression, are just some of the ways unprocessed emotions can manifest. As an AEDP clinician, I’m trained to create the conditions necessary to allow your emotions to be felt and expressed, together. We’ll quickly get to what’s bothering you, addressing your most pressing concerns first, and you’ll learn strategies to enable you to have some relief. As you feel better, emotions are uncovered, acknowledged, and felt. I am interested in developing our relationship, which provides a safe place to explore your concerns together in a respectful and collaborative way. I value your time, and am committed to working with intentional focus, understanding that you probably don’t want to be “in therapy” forever.
I’ve studied lots of approaches (they all seem to have acronyms - CBT, DBT, ACT - to name a few) and I’ve found that AEDP is the best way I know how to help you make lasting change. It is an evidenced-based therapy designed to change your physiology, not just give you techniques to manage. Of course you’ll learn skills along the way, but with AEDP we’re working on “from the ground up” change rather than managing symptoms.
I’m also trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.) We can add this modality when talk therapy seems to have hit a roadblock. EMDR is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, panic disorders, and specific stressors. I offer EMDR in two ways - either incorporated into our weekly sessions, or in an intensive format. There are pros and cons to each, and your availability and speed with which you’d like to feel better are both factors in which method you choose.
I welcome all in my practice, and have a special interest in working with people with anxiety, performers & creatives, and those with the HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) trait. As a person with the HSP trait myself, I “get it” at a fundamental level and offer a uniquely personalized lens to living with the trait.
Specialities
Anxiety. You know the feeling - heart racing, chest pounding, mind going a mile a minute. It happened a few times and you thought “no big deal.” But it’s happening more, and in places like the car on the drive to work, in a meeting, while you’re teaching a class. Or you have a constant buzzing in your head. Your thoughts race from one topic to the next, and you feel like you can’t get anything done. You’re constantly distracted and depleted. You can’t remember the next thing you’re supposed to do, and your to-do list is piling up.
Maybe you’ve tried some relaxation techniques on your own, or tried a few “Self-Care Sundays.” But it’s not working. We’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on in a holistic way. You’ll learn coping strategies while we look deeper at what may be at the core of the issue.
Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) Trait Individuals. Are you easily overwhelmed by such things as bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens nearby? Do you get rattled when you have a lot to do in a short amount of time? Do you need to withdraw during busy days, into bed or a darkened room or some other place where you can have privacy and relief from the situation? When you were a child, did your parents or teachers see you as sensitive or shy?
The HSP trait, just like eye and hair color, is a trait found in 20% of people (men and women equally) and animals. HSP trait individuals need special care, and understanding the trait and how it works in you can be enlightening and empowering. The HSP trait is a superpower, but since only 20% of the world has the trait, we live in a world created by non-HSP-trait people. We’ll unpack the trait, how it works in you, and learn how to cope in a world that can, at times, overwhelm.
Performers - artists, creatives - we are a very special group of people. You are both introverts and extroverts, seem to have boundless energy and yet need a lot of time alone to recharge, can be with hundreds or thousands of people performing, but only have a small group of friends. You have to have many faces, and that can get tricky.
You have to give all of yourselves into your art - a role, a piece of music, a masterpiece - and that can leave you feeling drained and not yourself. My specific therapeutic approach, AEDP, quickly gets to the root of the complex emotions felt by performers and creatives, freeing you up to pour yourself into your work.