Life can feel overwhelming, especially if distressing events from the past keep rippling into and impacting the present. 

Therapy will be different for each person, because everybody has a different situation and different goals. Typically, you can expect to meet weekly and discuss recent life events and challenges as well as progress or new insights that you’ve made since last session.

Therapy with me is usually a combination of traditional talk therapy integrated with additional non-talk approaches that are evidence-based and highly researched. These are chosen thoughtfully by taking into account your needs and style. Some of these include: mindfulness practices, somatic embodied awareness practices, self-attunement and self-attachment work, mindful-self compassion exercises, and parts work that facilitates exploring and working with different parts of self that are sometimes in conflict with each other or are no longer serving you in your current life.  Communication skills utilizing the Nonviolent Communication or NVC model can be explored to address boundaries with self and others.  EMDR,  a laser focused and non-talk way of addressing and working with difficult memories from the past, is often incorporated to address and work with symptoms of trauma, anxiety, depression or impaired feelings of self-worth and belonging. 

In the beginning of treatment, weekly meetings are usually required to establish rapport and build momentum in treatment. As therapy progresses, session frequency  can sometimes be moved to every other week for continued support of progress, and then can be moved to monthly for follow along before ending therapy altogether. Sometimes people come back intermittently for a tune-up here and there after they've completed therapy. 

While therapy often includes highly sensitive and heavy content, my style is quietly upbeat, gently down to earth and always heartfelt. When called for and possible I find that incorporating lightness can bring much needed gentleness, buoyancy and resilience to the journey. Doing therapy is hard work, but there can be times when sparks of joy and levity have their place, even in the toughest of situations.  

Therapy can be short-term, long-term, or for a specific issue, and every person processes and works at their own pace. Therefore the length of time that one engages in therapy varies. 

Those who actively engage in the therapy process and who practice the concepts and skills introduced in therapy tend to get the most from the therapeutic process.

People come to therapy for many different reasons. Sometimes a stressful life transition such as a divorce or a move motivates an individual to come to therapy as they learn to navigate their new circumstances. Others come to therapy because they’ve been through a traumatic or stressful situation, and they need support and help to process the event so that it no longer impacts their current life.

Others are experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or grief and need support, new insights and coping skills to resolve the symptoms.

Some people come to therapy to achieve goals not yet accomplished and are looking for support to develop peak performance in their life or careers.

In short, those who come to therapy are ready to make changes in their lives and are prepared to do the work necessary to make those changes.

Everybody goes through challenging times in life, and sometimes it makes sense to get support from somebody who has specialized knowledge about what one is going through.

It takes a lot of courage and self-awareness to realize that additional support may be needed at times. By taking responsibility for your life and seeking specialized support, you’re taking the steps needed to gain the clarity and skills for lifelong growth and change.

Therapy can help in a number of ways. A few of the main benefits of therapy are:

~Attaining greater self-awareness and insight into patterns and behaviors

~Learning and practicing new emotional, behavioral and relational skills

~Building new communication skills to improve relationships and boundary setting

~Discovering important concepts that set the stage for long term growth

~Cultivating self-compassion and  an embodied sense of self-worth

~Managing stress more effectively

~Implementing new skills into old patterns

~Experiencing new ways to attune to yourself and attend to difficult emotional states

It’s well established that for most, medications alone don’t resolve longer-term symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma.

While medications are sometimes a helpful and important part of treatment, therapy helps to get to the heart of the distress and helps clients to attain the insight and skills needed to heal and grow at a deep and long-lasting level.

By consulting with your primary care doctor or psychiatrist, you can determine if medications are the right choice for you. Most prescribing doctors recommend therapy as an adjunct to psychotropic medication for the best outcome.