My Approach

My goal as a therapist is to provide a refuge where the folks I work with can heal and grow from trauma in whatever form it is experienced. I’ve helped many people, just like you, navigate the road to recovery and build a life worth living. I use a collaborative, "power with" approach to therapy. I want us to work together to create change, which means I value the strengths, perspective, and wisdom you bring to the process. I also utilize various evidence-based models that we can individualize to meet your unique needs.

I am certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), which is a therapy that helps relieve emotional and physical distress tied to traumatic memories and the therapy I use most often. My approach to EMDR utilizes a somatic and attachment focus that brings in the wisdom of the body, an awareness of how developmental and cultural wounding affects the healing process, and honors the importance of the therapeutic relationship. I am trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for trauma, a body-based talk therapy that helps clients effectively process physical symptoms of unresolved trauma. I tend to weave this therapy into my EMDR work and have found it very effective when combined with EMDR.

I am also certified in Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS), which is a powerful, non-pathologizing approach that helps folks heal by increasing awareness and acceptance of the various parts of self that make up who we are and releasing the burdens carried by these parts that were created through trauma. As with my practice using EMDR, with IFS I also tend to weave in a somatic approach and include the story of the body in my work.

I have had a lot of success using Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a 12 session cognitive approach for PTSD that is structured and highly effective in reducing PTSD symptoms. This particular therapy was featured in an episode of This American Life, which you can listen to below.

This American Life episode "Ten Sessions"

I have also received training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) through the Beck Institute in treating anxiety, depression, and insomnia. CBT utilizes a structured approach to help change thoughts and behaviors that sustain these conditions and interfere in creating a life worth living.

I am affirming of all people and enjoy working with patients who identify as LGBTQIA across the gender spectrum. I also have a background in religious studies and am willing to incorporate your spiritual and religious beliefs into treatment when appropriate.