Psychotherapy
I help people feel safer in their bodies, update old survival strategies, and connect to their innate wisdom. I believe each of us needs to make our own user’s manual, where we learn how to effectively navigate the terrain of our own nervous system. With a nervous system and neurodivergent affirming lens, I provide tailored therapy for people longing for change.
Our work emerges from co-creating relative safety and stabilization, which includes connecting, resourcing, and grounding together. Two simultaneous processes unfold. The first process is where we work to address the presenting symptoms that can make life challenging, such as sticky thoughts, anxiety of all shapes and sizes, an overzealous inner critic, and other manifestations so that you can move through life with more safeness and ease. The second process is where we open to what is underneath the behavior, gently bringing its roots into the light. We honor adaptive survival strategies and the wisdom of your nervous system. We also invite and integrate new ways of being in alignment with your values.
I believe therapy is a portal to transformation and that therapy itself can feel light, easeful, and nurturing. I hold that healing happens in the present moment. My work is experiential, meaning each session there is an opportunity to drop into the body, apply the skills we are working on, and leave with more nervous system capacity. With play, heart, and deep care, we can journey towards healing together.
Areas of Focus
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I work with your existing window of capacity to foster greater ease and peace. Rather than an endless loop of anxiety management techniques, I can help restore nervous system resiliency and a felt sense of safety.
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I have devoted my career to working with BIPOC and LGBTQIA people.
I spent the first ten years of my career working primarily in public education. I have been shaped by education as a practice of freedom.
I practice from a feminist orientation, meaning I am attuned to power dynamics within our work and more broadly in the world.
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I enjoy supporting fellow providers, including medical professionals and therapists. I can help with attending to moral injury, resolving imposter syndrome, navigating institutional betrayal, softening the inner critic, and restoring balance.
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I am commited to working with neurodivergent (ND) people and have specialized training in adapting psychotherapy for ADHDers, Autistics, and AuDHDers in particular. I am trained in neurodivergent somatics through Nyck Walsh. I also practice Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT), which is an emerging form of therapy I find to be a particularly ND friendly way of addressing obsessions and ruminations.
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All pain is real, but not all pain indicates damage. Pain is a danger signal.
Neuroplastic chronic pain refers to non-structural pain or pain caused by learned neural circuits in the brain. If pain is learned, it can also be unlearned. I am trained in Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy, and through the Association for Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms. I have studied luminaries in the chronic pain field including Dr. Howard Schubiner and Alan Gordon. In addition to my background in pain psychology, I also offer embodiment through somatic practices.
I enjoy supporting people with pain that might feel uncomfortable to talk about, including painful sex, GI issues, and pelvic and bladder sensations.
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I follow Dr. Judith Herman’s nonlinear four phases of recovery - safety and stabilization, trauma processing, integration, and justice.
I work with single-incident, individual, developmental, complex, intergenerational, and collective traumas.
I believe trauma is most effectively addressed through a combination of “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches. I am extensively trained in “bottom-up” trauma therapies, including in EMDR, Internal Family Systems, and Somatic Experiencing. I am also trained in “top-down” or Cognitive Behavioral Therapies including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Written Exposure Therapy (WET). I also work with what I would consider a side door, which includes drawing from my training in MAPS MDMA Therapy, Flash and Predictive Flash Therapy, depth psychology, and the mythopoetic realm.
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I am passionate about supporting women’s health, including reproductive health concerns, endo, painful sex, and pelvic pain. In addition to my advanced training in clinical sexology and cutting edge pain psychology, I use an integrative approach. I am trained in Pelvic Floor Yoga with Leslie Howard and completed a fellowship in trauma-informed mindfulness and yoga. I am also a certified teacher in Daisy Lee’s Radiant Lotus Women’s Qigong, which is a sophisticated system of Qigong tailored for women’s health. I also have a robust network of providers I can refer to for additional support.
I Often Work With
People who are outwardly successful and can’t shake the sense that something is missing.
Those who worry, overthink, and doubt themselves, even when they wish they could turn that part of their brain off.
People who live up in their heads and are curious about being more in their bodies.
Sensitized nervous systems, including neurodivergence, panic, anxiety, chronic pain, and just feeling “off.”
Those who have tried traditional “top-down therapies” and want to go deeper.
People who are sensitive, march to the beat of their own drummer, and/or are neurodivergent.
Those navigating archetypal transitions, including quarterlife, grief, life transitions, and other forms of emergence.
Bodies that feel braced, disconnected, guarded, and longing for change.
People living with an overzealous inner critic.
Those living with pesky symptoms that interfere with day-to-day life such as trouble focusing, challenges unwinding, and sense of being cut off from joy, ease, and pleasure.
Sensations that can feel hard to talk about, including digestive issues, pelvic pain, women’s health issues, and other kinds of pain. No TMIs here.
People who want to address intergenerational burdens and foster intergenerational joy and well-being.
