If you’ve been feeling stuck, you’re not alone. You may feel like you know exactly what’s “wrong” with you, all your patterns and challenges, and where they come from. Yet, you still feel like nothing has changed. Therapy can offer a safe environment to explore how your experiences shaped you and challenge you to make changes that lead to a more fulfilling life.

My approach is relational, trauma-informed, affirming, and feminist. I believe the relationship a therapist and client form is paramount to any sense of healing. My goal is to create a space where you feel seen, heard, and included. We will share the power in the therapy room. We both have our own expertise, and your perspective on your lived experience is invaluable. Your input is just as important, sometimes if not more so, than mine. Together, we will create a space that emphasizes your safety, autonomy, and empowerment.

Authenticity is a core value of mine and I want you to feel like yours can flourish too. I welcome the humor, the memes, the receipts. Show up to our sessions as your full self, whatever that looks like for you that day. I’ll meet you where you’re at.

Therapy is also a place to challenge yourself and its structure can provide you with accountability. A common piece of feedback I’ve received from past clients is that I “don’t let them get away with” their typical patterns. I’ll help you look at yourself without judgment, name and notice what may be keeping you stuck, such as paying attention to the language we use to describe ourselves and the world around us.

Trauma

I have developed a passion for working with people who have experienced trauma. Our experiences can leave a lasting impact, and they often do when there’s too much too soon, or too little for too long. If you feel like you’re avoiding things that remind you of trauma, feel like your view of yourself, others, and the world has changed, or that you have to put on a brave face to survive, then congratulations; you’re having a normal reaction to abnormal circumstances. You likely developed patterns of thinking and behaving that kept you safe whenever the trauma was happening; that’s your nervous system doing its job. However, these patterns eventually become less effective or helpful over time. Let’s figure them out and explore what changes might be important to you.

Experience

My previous clinical experience includes providing individual, group, and family therapy, as well as psychological assessment, across the lifespan. I have extensive experience working in partial hospitalization programs (PHP) and intensive outpatient programs (IOP) with children, adolescents, and adults. Other settings I have worked in include community mental health centers, both outpatient and school-based, as well as a psychiatric hospital and private practice. Before coming to Balanced Awakening, I worked in Compass Health Center’s Trauma Program as a primary therapist.

My experience allowed me to develop a holistic understanding of clients using an integrative approach, meaning I draw on a variety of therapeutic modalities to individualize treatment. Some approaches I typically incorporate include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), mindfulness, parts work, systems theories, and attachment theory.