Therapeutic Approach & Areas of Specialty
My Approach
Building on a foundation of deep respect, I will work with you to build a trusting therapeutic relationship. It is through this relationship that true change and healing regularly occur. I always approach these encounters with an attitude of curiosity rather than judgment. As a licensed therapist, I acknowledge that I have training and experience, but you, the client, are the expert on yourself. I’m here to take the journey with you and to help you move through what is challenging you. I will be alongside you as you’re figuring out who you are, what kind of life you’d like to live, and how to make that a reality. We will work together through unresolved issues, however that may look for you, and integrate them in healthy, practical ways.
Areas of Specialty
Throughout my education, post-graduate training, and work with a wide range of clients over the years, I have become especially interested and experienced in:
Helping clients to work through a wide range of trauma, including childhood and sexual trauma. Trauma disrupts important parts of our lives, warping or erasing memories, causing us to dissociate, and even distorting our sense of time and reality. I am skilled in helping you to navigate these often-difficult topics.
Providing care for people who are experiencing anxiety. Anxiety is frequently accompanied by issues like panic attacks, trouble sleeping or concentrating, intrusive thoughts, avoidance of social events, etc. As too many of us know, anxiety is versatile and shows up in all areas of our lives, both mentally and physically. I listen very carefully to your life story and experiences, and ultimately help you to trace some of the roots of your current anxieties. As you face these issues, I can accompany, support, and guide you. As you progress, you will find that your anxiety is likely to lessen significantly. The change tends to be both substantial and long-lasting.
Exploring gender and sexual identity. I have had the privilege of working with many queer, trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people throughout my career. I am poly- and kink-affirming, and proficiently fluent in the languages of these worlds. I have completed many hours of gender and sex therapy trainings, and I do my best to stay current and well-versed in the relevant literature and associated communities. You will find me to be an accepting therapist who is open and interested in hearing about all parts of your experience.
Addressing identity issues and existential crises. Who am I? Where am I going? Who do I want to be? Where do I want to go? What’s my purpose? What’s the point of any of this? What happens after we die? Existentialism helps us take a close, meaningful look at these enormous questions. My graduate training had a strong existential-phenomenological background, meaning that I acknowledge the importance of slowing down and examining the taken for granted aspects of our lives. I’m grateful to be able to lend a hand to people as they figure out who they are and who they’d like to be.
Managing academic or work-related pressure and procrastination. This often involves taking stock of your priorities and what’s important to you. After establishing a deeper understanding of yourself in these ways, we can work together to explore the origins of your procrastination and try out different ways of approaching situations you tend to put off or avoid.
Assisting with life transitions. For instance, the transition from middle to high school, moving from high school to college, the ending or beginning of a relationship, grief and loss, gender transition, moving past a breakup/divorce, to name a small sample. All of these can contain both a great amount of suffering and ample opportunity for growth and positive change. I’m here to help you navigate them.
Dealing with bullying and other social anxieties. These issues tend to manifest themselves especially ruthlessly during middle and high school. I am far away enough from that age to have perspective and insight, but not so far away that I forget how emotionally turbulent those times can be! In my work with teens, I strive to be an anchor, a guiding presence, and someone to whom they can vent everything: their worries, hopes, fears, daydreams, insecurities, desires, ideas, feelings, and experiences. I also work with them on coming up with and applying better ways of coping with all of the pressures and demands that come along with being a teenager in today’s world.
Supporting people through depression and all its associated effects and experiences: isolation, despair, lack of motivation, hopelessness, and suicidality, to name just a few. I understand and appreciate that when you are depressed, it can be difficult to do anything. I have a great deal of respect for people who seek out therapy when they are depressed. Over time, we can discern patterns around your depression, trace some of its roots, and try out new ways of relating to and managing it.