You’re seeking a direct therapist who will challenge and interrupt you, so you don’t vent the entire session.

You’re seeking an active therapist who will talk with you in session like a real human being. I curse and laugh.

You’re seeking somatic therapy to embody the changes you want because you’ve been living in your head.

While talk therapy helps most people, for some clients, they found it ineffective and unhelpful.

Many clients have told me:

• Their therapists were warm and gentle, listening to them without consistent feedback, guidance, support, and/or challenge

• Their therapists were more passive in the therapy room and they wanted a more relational, casual, back and forth relationship in session

• Their therapists focused too much on therapy talk/speak and intellectualizing, and they wanted to understand things in a practical manner

• Taught them practical skills like mindfulness & deep breathing, but they wanted to learn how to actually implement or integrate their learnings outside of session

• Their therapists sympathized with them, but weren’t able to fully empathize with them and their experiences (e.g. notice micro changes in tone or inflection, notice when sensations/emotions emerge)

• Their therapists were good at summarizing, reflecting or repeating words back to them, but weren’t able to connect the dots or patterns to their long term issues

While talk therapy, active listening, and supportive therapy is helpful for most clients, I believe there are some clients who require more than listening and support.

These clients usually need help with:

• Attachment, complex, and/or developmental trauma and/or neglect

  • Anxiety & depression

  • Low self esteem

  • Guilt & toxic shame

  • Self criticism and judgement

• Chronic, ongoing, repetitive relational patterns/dynamics

  • Codependency & anxiety

  • Rigidity, control & perfectionism

  • People pleasers and approval seekers

  • Fear of intimacy & pushing others away

  • Fear of conflict & fawning/appeasing

  • Fear of abandonment

  • Seeking out unavailable/unhealthy partners and friendships

• Pushing down emotions/emotional suppression

  • Intellectualizing

  • Projection

  • Rationalizing

  • Dissociation

  • Shutting down and going numb

  • Staying busy and distracting

• Personality restructuring/reorganizing

  • Disorganized attachment (push and pull; wanting to be in relationship, but simultaneously terrified of connecting in relationship)

  • Psychological defenses, survival mechanisms, tactics, mechanisms and protectors

  • False self vs. true Self (code switching, being a chameleon, masking)

  • Limited emotional capacity to feel and sense

  • Lower self-concept and self -efficacy (insecurity)

  • Nervous system regulation (fight, flight, freeze, fright, fawn/fold)

  • Dissociation and detachment (shutting down)

• Avoidance, protectors, and/resistance

  • Self reliance to a fault (hyper independence)

  • Hypervigilance, fear & terror

  • Secondary gains (mental blocks that can slow down changing and healing)

  • Fear of changing, healing and growing

  • Over working

  • Over exercising

  • Over eating

  • Problematic behaviors, substance misuse, and addictions

There are other approaches to therapy that are effective for where talk therapy has not been helpful, specifically:

• Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)

• Mentalization Based Treatment

• Ego States Therapy

• Internal Family Systems (IFS)

• Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), and

• Somatic Experiencing

• Psychodynamic Therapy

These modalities are generally more 1) Directive, active, and intensive, or 2) Slower, embodied, and emotional, requiring client vulnerability, motivation, effort, collaboration, honesty, and outside practice.

This is not the sort of therapy where you can show up to and expect the therapist to do all the work.

I require your effort, participation, motivation, and engagement each and every session.

We will intensely practice and have a different experience with your thoughts and feelings in session together, working as together as a team to achieve your goals.

You will feel emotional pain and discomfort in and outside of session.

Think of this like going to the gym for your brain. We will push you, but not too much

I believe the best therapy for you is the one we create together, taking into account your preferences, personality, culture, as well as my skill, experience, and variety of therapeutic techniques.

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Click here to read more about personality types/traits/organization.

You’re looking for long term solutions to long term issues.

While there are no quick fixes or solutions for long standing issues, there is hope.

I work best with clients who have tried talk therapy before for months/years, and want something more active, engaged, practical, and dives deeper into your issues.

I blend talk therapy, somatic therapy, spirituality, Buddhist psychology, mindfulness, relationships & emotions, nature, and cultural wisdom/ways of being and knowing into my practice.

One therapy modality will not be effective for every issue and every person.

Complex issues require complex solutions.

As a therapist, I also incorporate roles such as teacher, guide, facilitator, coach, and cheerleader when necessary.

At my core, my eclectic approach blends:

• Trauma informed and trauma specific therapy

  • Understanding of impacts of stress and trauma on human development and functioning using EMDR, IFS, SE, Ego States, ACT, AEDP & EFT

• Parts/IFS/Ego States work/Structural Dissociation theory

  • To help integrate fractured/disconnected aspects of ourselves

• Relational Psychoanalytic Theory, Psychodynamic Therapy & Object Relations Theory

  • Impacts of early childhood and cultural upbringing and environment, enactments, splitting, attachment, mentalizing, projective identification & the unconscious

• Somatic/Mind-Body Connection

• Relational Therapy

  • Attunement, relational patterns/dynamics, family roles, corrective experiences, self disclosure, repairing after ruptures/conflicts, and

• Experiential techniques

  • Mindfulness, gestalt, psychodrama, guided imagery, self reflection, nature

You can learn more about my approach by clicking here.

I use both trauma informed care/therapy and trauma specific therapy.

All therapists should be trauma-informed, whether or not a client is seeking therapy for trauma recovery.

Trauma informed care/therapy means I follow a set of beliefs including:

• Shift from “What is wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"

• Recognizes trauma is widespread and occurs often

• Focuses on physical, emotional and psychological safety, trusting relationships (safety on a continuum and complex, pacing, gradual process, flexible boundaries)

• Patient empowerment (collaboration, asking for feedback, asking for permission)

• To avoid active intentional re-traumatization

Not all therapists have trauma specific training.

Trauma specific therapy means I have specific training, education, and skill in working with particular types of traumas including: sexual abuse and assault, childhood emotional neglect, childhood abuse, domestic violence/intimate partner violence, racial trauma/race based discrimination, etc.

These are some of the types of traumas:

• Single incident/event trauma or PTSD

• Attachment, development, or childhood injuries or traumas

• Historical or intergenerational traumas

• Identity-based traumas such as racism, homophobia & sexism

This also means I am trained in a wide range of modalities and approaches including: CPT, CBT, EMDR, IFS, Psychodynamic therapy, etc.

I also have in depth training, knowledge, and experience with the following:

• Dissociation

• Grief and loss

• Toxic shame

• Emotions like fear, anger, guilt, and sadness

• Adult attachment styles

• The importance of early childhood experiences

• The importance of culture and difference

• Defenses/survival strategies/resistance/protectors

• Nervous system regulation

• How trauma alters the brain

• Mind-body connection/soma

• Counter transference and transference

• Projective identification

• Enactments

• Secondary or vicarious trauma

• Burn out

• Compassion fatigue or compassion/empathetic distress fatigue

True safety is not possible as safety is on a continuum and is complex.

I engage in the following for all clients so therapy can be safer.

Therapeutic Frame & Boundaries

• Letting you know up front what to expect in therapy (e.g. risks and benefits to therapy, money, cancellation policy, office location, etc.)

• Having flexible and firm boundaries to protect us both

Pacing & Phase Based Approach

• Taking a gradual, slow approach to therapy vs. diving right in

• Following Judith Herman’s 3 phased/phased based approach to therapy. Click here to learn more.

Asking for Permission & Invitation

• Everything I ask you to do in therapy is an invitation or encouragement, but not mandatory

• I consistently ask for permission in session to see if you want to explore a particular topic, go deeper into a more sensitive topic, etc. instead of assuming

Ongoing Feedback

• I solicit regular verbal and written feedback because I can’t read clients’ minds/assume that therapy is going well

• Feedback has been shown to deepen and make therapy more effective

Grounding, Resourcing & Regulation

• Teaching you practical skills/tools to manage distress and overwhelm

• Teaching you the importance of having a strong foundation in learning to self-regulate/self-soothe

Confidentiality & Its Limits

• Letting you know everything is confidential in therapy with the exception of certain areas such as: knowledge of child abuse, knowledge of elder abuse, and imminent harm to self or others

Clients often come to me after going to a generalist (a therapist that treats a variety/breadth of issues rather than specific, targeted issues).

I work with six types of clients:

1. Couples/dyads who want to resolve conflicts, establish boundaries, increase intimacy, communicate more effectively, fight more fairly, and work toward secure attachment.

   1. This also includes non-romantic configurations (e.g. family members like two siblings or parent/adult child, roommates, business partners).

2. Those who want to heal from childhood trauma, abuse, grief, loss and neglect.

   1. I blend Attachment-Focused Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing (SE), Internal Family Systems (IFS) & Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) to heal from attachment trauma, developmental trauma, and complex trauma.

3. Those exposed to trauma and loss as a result of their jobs.

   1. Such as caregivers, healthcare workers, therapists, social workers, clinicians, and first responders who want to process compassion fatigue, secondary & vicarious trauma, grief & loss, and burn out.

4. Those who have healed and are healing from trauma and loss and want to focus on vicarious post-traumatic growth & post-traumatic growth issues

   1. Such as finding meaning and purpose in life, living more honestly and authentically, facing your fears and anxieties versus avoiding them, and all that it means to be a complex human being (e.g. freedom, responsibility, death, choice). I also work with those seeking depth-oriented therapy and personal growth such as self esteem, identity, and unconditional self love.

5. Those with insecure attachment styles (anxious, fearful & dismissive avoidant, disorganized) with persistent relationship patterns/dynamics that want to move toward earned secure attachment.

   1. Secure attachment is possible and includes greater ability to set healthy boundaries, trust yourself and others, higher self esteem, be emotionally vulnerable, and greater tolerance of change and ambiguity with more ease.

6. Adult children of immigrants and refugees that struggle

   1. With bicultural identity, cultural double bind, guilt and responsibility, academic and career pressure, anxiety, depression, shame, anger, intersectional identity related issues, code switching, and want to break/interrupt unhelpful intergenerational patterns related to the impacts of war, assimilation, discrimination, violence, and migration.

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Examples

1. Couples/dyads who want to learn assertive communication skills, fight more effectively, and rebuild more intimacy and trust in their relationship

2. Chronic over thinkers who intellectualize their problems, are self-aware to a fault, and find it hard to connect to their feelings

3. Those in the midst of a major life transition (becoming a parent, empty nest syndrome, divorce, separation, starting school, changing jobs, new diagnosis, recent loss, etc.)

4. Men who want to become more aware of their emotional world, increase comfort with vulnerability, and learn to ask for what they want in healthier ways

5. Those who want to explore their own mortality, discuss the practicality and emotionality around their own death, anxiety/fear of death, and continually mourn their losses and grief

6. Healthcare professionals, therapists, and social workers who are wounded healers

7. Those who are exhausted, overwhelmed, burnt out, experiencing compassion fatigue, and want to take better care of themselves

8. Adults abused as children, emotional neglect, sexual violence/assault, attachment/developmental trauma, and those who grew up in dysfunctional families

9. Survivors of trauma who are parents who want to parent healthier children and break the cycle of trauma

10. Immigrants and children of immigrants who want to break unhelpful generational patterns, and break free from guilt

11. Queer/gay people who want to learn to love themselves unconditionally, feel more at home in their bodies, and unlearn harmful messaging from family, society, and our larger culture

12. Those seeking exploration of their intersectional identities, processing existential issues, and finding more meaning and value in life

I love learning.

I regularly attend trainings in the areas of: grief, anxiety, somatic/mind-body therapy, trauma recovery, multicultural therapy, attachment, and relationship issues.

My entire career of 8 years has been spent deepening skills and knowledge in trauma recovery, PTSD, CPTSD, complex trauma, developmental trauma, childhood abuse, emotional neglect, and attachment issues.

As of 2024, I am deepening my knowledge in facing our own mortality, death, grief, and loss.

As of 2025, I am reading texts on Psychodynamic Therapy & Relational & Intersubjective Psychoanalysis, particularly as it relates to trauma & attachment related issues (e.g. dissociation, enactments, projective identification, object relations, transference, counter transference) to deepen my work with long-term clients experiencing deeply embedded personality functioning/organizing issues.

I also regularly attend my own personal therapy (with pauses/breaks as needed to integrate), engage in peer and professional clinical consultation, and take time off so clients can receive the best care possible and for me to sustain my work long term due to the occupational hazards of being a therapist.

EDUCATION

• University of California, Post-Master’s Fellowship (Counseling & Psychological Services & Social Services)

• University of Washington, Master of Social Work (Mental Health Concentration)

• University of Washington, Behavioral Health Fellowship

• University of Texas, Bachelor of Arts

ADVANCED TRAININGS & EDUCATION

1. Internal Family Systems (IFS) Levels 1 & 2 & IFIO Basic Trained For Couples/Dyads

2. Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Levels 1 & 2

3. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Externship For Couples/Dyads & Emotionally Focused Individually Therapy (EFIT) Levels 1 & 2

4. Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) Couples/Dyad Therapy Levels 1 & 2

5. Gottman Couples/Dyad Therapy Level 1

6. PRATI Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP)

7. MAPS (now Lykos) MDMA Therapy for PTSD Training Program

8. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Basic Trained

9. Somatic Psychedelic Facilitator Certificate - The Embody Lab

10. Somatic Experiencing (SE) For Trauma Resolution (Completed up to Advanced Level 1; Anticipated Completion of 3-Year SEP Credential Winter 2027)

11. Trauma-Informed Care Training Certificate: Working with Female Survivors of Violence

12. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

13. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

14. Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)

15. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

16. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

17. Psychodynamic Therapy & Object Relations Theory

18. Fundamentals of Clinical Hypnosis (Level 1)

19. Level I: The Complexities of Complex Trauma - International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD)

20. Death Doula/End of Life Education and Planning Training

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Anticipated 2027 Trainings

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Advanced Level 2 (36 hrs)

• Post Traumatic Growth for Mental Health Professionals (3 hrs)

• In Depth Self Care, Secondary Trauma & Burn Out Training

  • Compassion Fatigue: Running on Empty

  • Rooted in Compassion: Harm Reduction in Action

  • The Ethical Mandate for Provider Self Care

  • Holding Space While Staying Grounded: In-Session Support for Clinician Self-Regulation

  • Strong Developmental Networks and Mentorship: Early and Mid Career Considerations

  • Building a Resilient Clinician

  • Honoring the Dignity of Risk: How Autonomy Drives Growth and Healing in Clinical Care

  • Ethically Creating and Nurturing Clinician Wellness

  • Fuel Your Fire: Empowering Self-Care for Mental Health Professionals to Prevent Burnout and Compassion Fatigue

  • Beyond Bubble Baths: Self-Care in Modern Times

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2026 Trainings

• WBCP Psychoanalytic Fellowship Program (24 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Advanced Level 1 (36 hrs)

• Introduction to NARM® Webinar: The NeuroAffective Relational Model® (NARM®) for Healing Attachment, Relational & Developmental Trauma (1 hr)

• Working with the Earliest Forms of Developmental and Complex Trauma: Understanding the NARM® (NeuroAffective Relational Model®) Connection Survival Style (1.5 hrs)

• Janina Fisher's Embracing Our Fragmented Selves: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Healing Through Parts Work (7 hrs)

• Level I: The Complexities of Complex Trauma - International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) (30 hrs)

• 7-Day Mindfulness and Liberation Meditation Retreat – Foundations of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (21.5 CEU hrs)

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) (50 hrs)

• Transforming Resistance - 6-Month Seminar in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) (18 hrs)

• The Psychotherapy Institute - An Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) Weekly Study Circe (25 hrs)

• In Depth Trauma Training (40 hrs)

  • Delivering Death Notification with Compassion and Professionalism

  • All Eyes on DV: Developing a Multi-Disciplinary Perspective of Domestic Violence

  • Am I Crazy? The Ramifications of Gaslighting and Its Impact of Survivors

  • Immigration: Trauma and Grief

  • Anger and the Nervous System: Residual of the Fight/Flight System - The Work and Role of the Therapist

  • Through the Looking Glass: A Fresh Perspective on Cultural Competency and Working with Survivors from Diverse Communities

  • Trauma and Our Nervous System

  • Therapeutic Yoga for Overcoming Trauma

  • Highlighting Online Romance Scam Victimization in the United States: Insights and Implications

  • Healthy Sexuality After Abuse: Inviting Your Body to Something Different

  • Examining BDSM, Consent, and Non-Consensual Sexual Sadism

  • But Isn't He Still a Good Dad? DV Offender Manipulation Tactics During Post-Separation

  • Building Abuse & Trauma-Informed Faith Communities

  • Navigating Grief and Building Resilience for Families

  • From Harm to Healing: Trauma Informed Care for Religious Wounds

  • Healing-Centered Safety Planning with Immigrant Survivors

  • Understanding Complex Trauma and Repeated Sexual Victimization

  • Reclaiming the Holidays: Coping with Grief and Trauma

  • Trauma Informed Care

  • Bad to the Bone: The Interconnectedness of Pet Abuse, Partner Abuse, and Child Abuse

  • Confidence in Court

  • Post-Separation & Post-Divorce Abuse: When Getting Out Isn't the End of Abuse

  • The Link Between Serial Killers and Violence Against Women

  • Sexual Assault Prevention, Support, and Resources in Higher Education

  • DARCC’s Approach to Enhance Trauma Informed Care for Survivors of Sexual Violence

  • Empowering Communities through Education: A Comprehensive Approach to Preventing Sexual Violence

2025

• Death Doula/End of Life Education and Planning Training (40 hrs)

• Fundamentals of Clinical Hypnosis (Level 1) (25 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Intermediate Levels 1, 2 & 3 (72 hrs)

• Grief /End of Life Training

  • Exploring the Complexities of Grief (2 hrs)

  • Intro to Perinatal Loss: The Presence of an Absence (2 hrs)

  • Perinatal Loss and Prolonged Grief Treatment (1 hr)

  • Immigration: Trauma & Grief (1 hr)

  • Loss, Grief, and Domestic Violence: The Power of Transformation (2.5 hrs)

  • Loss of Autonomy: Working With Differently-Abled Individuals (1.5 hrs)

  • Nutrition and Hydration Near the End of Life (1 hr)

  • Advanced Cancer and End of Life (1 hr)

  • Perspectives on Cultural Considerations in Goals-of-Care Conversations (2 hrs)

  • Embrace, Engage, Empower: Cultural Awareness in End-of-Life (1 hr)

  • Advanced Lung Disease: Prognostication and Role of Hospice (1 hr)

  • Veterans Nearing the End of Life: Distinct Needs, Specialized Care (1 hr)

• Trauma and Dissociation/CPTSD Informed Internal Family Systems (IFS) - A 5-Day IFS Retreat With Joanne Twombly (32 hrs)

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Suicide Prevention (CBT-SP) (14 hrs)

• Narrative Therapy Training (12 hrs)

• Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (6 hrs)

2024

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 2, Deepening & Expanding (42 hrs)

• Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) Basic Training For Couples/Dyad Therapy (72 hrs)

• Somatic Experiencing for Trauma Resolution - Beginner Levels 1, 2 & 3 (72 hrs)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Workshop - Shame & Guilt (2 hrs)

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Workshop - Chronic Pain (2 hrs)

• Somatic Psychedelic Facilitator Certificate - The Embody Lab (32 hrs)

• Psychedelic Education Certificate (MDMA, Psilocybin, Ketamine, and 5-MeO-DMT) - Psychedelic Support (20 hrs)

• Trauma-Informed Care Training Certificate: Working with Female Survivors of Violence (40 hrs)

• 7-Day Silent Retreat: Befriending Mortality: Living An Awakened Life Through Mindfulness of Death

• Cultivating Focused Attention: An Intensive 7- Day Mindfulness Retreat for Mental Health Professionals

• 7- Day Silent Meditation Mettā Retreat: Teachings and Practices to Cultivate a Wise, Compassionate, and Responsive Heart

• Mentalizing and Mentalization-Based Treatment with Adults (MBT Adult): An Introduction (6 hrs)

• General Psychiatric Management (GPM) for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) (6 hrs)

• Clinical Supervision Training: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know (18 hrs)

2023

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1 (72 hrs)

• PRATI Foundational Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Training (30 hrs)

• MAPS (Now Lykos) MDMA Assisted Therapy Training (30 hrs)

• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (14 hrs)

• Introduction to Military Culture, Families and Deployment (6 hrs)

• Overview of Military Service-Related Behavioral Health Challenges (7 hrs)

2022

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples/Dyad Therapy (PACT) Level 1 (30 hrs)

• Psychobiological Approach to Couples/Dyad Therapy (PACT) Level 2 (30 hrs)

• Transforming Resistance - Yearlong Seminar in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) (18 hrs)

• Mental Health Suicide in 2022: An Update for Professionals (6 hrs)

• Socratic Dialogue: A 4-Stage Model of Discovery (1 hr)

• 2-Day Certified Clinical Trauma Professional Training - PESI (12.5 hrs)

• In Depth Trauma Training (27.5 hrs)

  • Healing from Childhood Trauma (3 hrs)

  • Trauma and Couples Therapy: Treading through Contentious Waters (3.5 hrs)

  • Trauma Informed Care (3 hrs)

  • The Neurobiology of Trauma (1.5 hrs)

  • How Deep Does Pain Go?: The Impact of Violence Across

    One's Lifespan (4 hrs)

  • The Elephant in the Room: Interventions to Treat Trauma (3 hrs)

  • Joy and Sorrow in the Same Cup: Addressing Grief, Loss & Trauma in Adoption (1.5 hrs)

  • Trauma Informed Responses to Sexual Violence (1.5 hrs)

  • Life After Death: Overcoming Childhood Trauma (1.5 hrs)

  • The Impact of Childhood Trauma Across the Lifespan (3 hrs)

  • Exploring the Complexities of Grief (2 hrs)

2021

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 2, Essential Skills (80 hrs)

• Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) Levels 1 & 2 (24 hrs)

• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (12 hrs)

• Seeking Safety Training (Substance Use & PTSD) (6 hrs)

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills: Introduction (12 hrs)

• Community Resiliency Model (CRM) (6 hrs)

• Attachment Injury Resolution Model (AIRM) (12 hrs)

• NICABM - The Treating Trauma Master Series: A 5-Module Series on the Treatment of Trauma (10 hrs)

2020

• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) Externship (28 hrs)

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (27 hrs)

• All Patients Safe: Suicide Prevention for Medical Providers (6 hrs)

2019

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Level 1 Immersion (30 hrs)

• Trauma Informed Care & Practical Approaches To Managing Trauma Responses In Eating Disorder Treatment (12 hrs)

• Mindful Self-Compassion Core Skills Training (22 hrs)

• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) Boot Camp/Immersion (32 hrs)

2018

• Motivational Interviewing Skills (MI) Training (12 hrs)

• Gottman Couples/Dyad Therapy Level 1 (12 hrs)

• Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) (14 hrs)

• Assessing and Managing Suicide Risk: Core Competencies for Mental Health Professionals (6 hrs)

• Essentials of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) (5 hrs)

I work with clients who are committed to therapy, come to sessions consistently, and are ready to do the hard work of healing in and outside of session.

These clients are often seeking a trauma, anxiety, relationship, and/or grief specialist who is highly trained and skilled with years of experience.

Clients often know after 1 full session with me if this type of therapy I offer is a good fit for what they are seeking.

One of the most important things for prospective clients to know is regarding vacation/time off, especially if they plan on working with me longer term.

I regularly take 6-8 weeks off annually for professional development, training, workshops, and self care to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue due to the intensity of my work.

While I cannot plan in advance, I usually take one week off every 3 months. I will let you know at least 1-2 sessions prior to my time off so you can plan accordingly.

Every few years, I take extended time off/sabbatical (anywhere from 2-4 months off).

In these cases, I will offer you 2-3 backup therapists for short-term support, or you are welcome to continue seeing them even after my return if they are a better fit. I will let you know at least 2-3 months prior to taking extended leave.

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WE MIGHT BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU VALUE:

01. Being Challenged & Interrupted At TImes

• Rather than venting every session and have me nod in silence

• I believe there is a limit to how much endless validation can help you grow

• Most of the clients I see provide me feedback that their previous therapist did not provide them structure and education on therapy, and instead just allowed them to vent without guidance.

  • Therapy with me is a deliberate process where we will address what you’ve been avoiding gradually. I will provide you ample education and rationale for why we are doing what we are doing, so you don’t feel lost.

02. Are Active In Therapy

• Come in with things to talk about, practice skills/tools outside session, open to trying new things.

• Therapy works best if the client is motivated, open, and engaged to used the session to confront their challenges so they can grow.

• Change is rarely comfortable and pleasant. It is my job to support you with compassion, empathy, and professionalism.

• Research shows about 40% of the change from therapy occurs outside of session, is due to client related factors (e.g. personality, motivation), and other systemic and contextual factors (e.g. time, money, home life, support).

• Forcing yourself or being forced to attend therapy rarely yields positive results. It’s your decision to decide if therapy will be a helpful tool for you.

03. Direct Communication & Soliciting Feedback

• Therapy is most helpful when you communicate with me your disagreements, your requests/wants, and when you give me feedback on what is and isn’t helpful. I’ll do the same.

• This is why many clients “ghost” their therapist when there is a disagreement, rupture, or conflict and they end up feeling misunderstood, hurt, or invalidated.

• Or at worst, this is why sometimes clients stay in therapy that is ineffective for them longer than they need to due to fear, anxiety, or worries of some sort and wish their therapist could read their mind and address the implicit issues in the room haunting the therapy session.

• If you struggle with assertive communication and want to learn this, I can help you.

04. Dialectic or Balance

• I try to balance things in therapy:

  • Balancing validation with challenge

  • Balancing insight with learning skills

  • Balancing listening with interrupting

  • Balancing acceptance with change

• Life is a dialectic. Both things and multiple things can be true at the same time.

05. Other Methods Outside of Talk Therapy

• Such as mindfulness, experiential therapy, psychodrama, somatic therapy

• There is a limit to how beneficial talk therapy can be, especially you are an intellectualizer who values logic, data, theories, and cognizing over emotions, sensations, and experiences

• As Steven Hayes states, “Get out of your head and into your body”.

05. The Healing Power of Relationships

• We will use our therapeutic relationship as a template for learning new healthy experiences and opportunities for repair and growth

• The relationship patterns you struggle with outside of therapy will inevitably show up in our sessions, between me and you.

• These challenges give us insight into why you struggle as well as what you need to change and grow into the sort of person you want to be toward meeting your therapeutic goals. We will interrupt these patterns with new experiences and patterns.

  • Example: If you are a people pleaser, you will most likely use people pleasing strategies in therapy which will get in the way of therapeutic progress. Intervention: People please less and have the option to utilizing assertive communication (vs. passive, passive aggressive, or aggressive communication styles) so you can ask for what you want without guilt.

  • Example: If you fear conflict, you will most likely try to avoid conflict in therapy, which is impossible because conflicts are a normal part of any relationship. Intervention: Understand the root of why you fear and avoid conflict. Normalize conflict by learning healthy communication, healthy relationships, communication skills, and accessing your emotions and sensations.

  • Example: If you struggle with feeling, naming, and being aware of your emotions, you will most likely struggle with accessing your emotions in therapy. Emotions are important and provide us data, like thoughts. Intervention: Understand the strategies for why you struggle with accessing your emotions. Slowly build the capacity to feel, name, and express your emotions so you can have a more meaningful life based on connection vs. disconnection.

06. Want to Learn How to Become Your Own Therapist Long Term

• My goal is for you to gain insight and understanding into why you do what you do, interrupt unhelpful cycles of sabotage, and learn skills/tools to manage future conflicts

WE MIGHT NOT BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU:

01. Expect Perfection

• I’m not perfect, will make mistakes, and will communicate directly when this occurs toward resolution

02. Expect Me To Do All The Work

• Examples: Solve your problems, tell you what to do, consistently have to ask you what you want to work on in session, am more curious about you than you are of yourself

03. Cancel Sessions Often

• Therapy works best with consistency

04. Don’t Take Accountability

• Confronting our shadows require honesty about our humanity and limitations

05. Don’t Liked Being Challenged

• Of course, I will be gentle and compassionate, but in my experienee, endless validation is not going to be helpful long term

06. Demand Instant Change Within 3-4 Sessions

• While relief can come in a few sessions, long term change requires compassion, practice, patience, and repetition

07. Want to Get Rid of All Your Feelings & Thoughts

• Pain is inevitable in life

• My goal is for you to learn to accept and manage life stressors, pain, and grief with more compassion, nuance, and acceptance.

• If we get rid of painful feelings and thoughts, we also then will have a difficult time accessing joy, love, and peace. What we resist persists.

• Moreover, there are things in life that cannot be forgotten, forgiven, or rid of such as the loss of a loved one or traumatic experiences

08. Aren’t Interested in Exploring Your Past, Childhood, or Upbringing

• There are other therapists who focus only on the present moment with an emphasis on skill building and generating quick solutions that may be a better fit (CBT, DBT, ACT)

I want to…

• Decrease psychosomatic symptoms caused by emotional stress (e.g. headaches, fatigue, exhaustion, migraines).

• Interrupt patterns of self sabotage and self-defeating behaviors (things I do that I know aren’t good for me, yet I keep doing them).

• Understand why I do what I do.

• Heal from the impacts of trauma, grief, and loss.

• Learn how to manage my traumatic triggers and flashbacks.

• Learn how to manage stress, anxiety, panic, and overwhelm.

• Learn how to be kinder to myself and practice self compassion.

• Become more aware, name, express, and feel my emotions.

• Learn how to manage overwhelming thoughts and emotions.

• Have a more intimate, strong, and robust relationship with myself and others.

• Have a space for myself because I usually internalize my thoughts and feelings.

• Become more comfortable with vulnerability.

• Learn to ask for what I need and when I need help.

• Learn direct and assertive communication.

• Learn healthy and flexible boundaries.

• Work through feelings of shame and guilt.

• Increase my sense of Self (confidence, esteem, acceptance, love, compassion).

• Find more meaning and value in my life.

• Have an outside perspective to my issues.

• Integrate psychedelic experiences (Ketamine) to maintain gains and insights.