How I Help

Please note that I provide all therapy online through a secure video platform. 

TRAUMA 

Many of the struggles that bring people into therapy (such as feeling anxious or depressed) are much more than what they appear on the surface. When we get to understand these issues more deeply, we usually discover that the symptoms are actually solutions to adverse, overwhelming, or traumatic experiences. While some examples of trauma are more obvious to us, any experience that leads to unresolved autonomic nervous response (i.e., feeling stuck is a state of helplessness, fear, or shame) may be understood as trauma. Trauma may be the result of something that happened, such as an assault, or it may be the result of what didn't happen, such as receiving the emotional care that we needed as a child. Additionally, trauma can be ongoing, such as living in a dangerous home environment, or it can be singular, such as experiencing a severe car accident. Most of the people I see in therapy have at least some relational trauma that they may or may not be aware of when we first begin our work together. I believe that whether we are coming to therapy for trauma or not, it's often an influence of our suffering, and therefore deserves loving attention.

SELF-ESTEEM

So often, we learn to mute, manage, guilt, and shame ourselves in an attempt to feel safer in relationships and in the world. We may have learned to relate to our sadness, for example, with fear or disgust. The parts of ourselves that we learned to hide may also be vibrate, joyful, or expressive aspect of ourselves. Each person has their own unique structure and pattern of relating inwardly, and an important piece of therapy is discovering those structures together. Whether you identify low self-esteem to be a core issue for you or not, exploring your relationship to yourself will be a key ingredient in developing self-compassion and finding pathways toward deep and lasting change.

QUEER EXPERIENCE

As a queer person, I know how important it can be to work with a therapist who not just affirms your identity, but understands what it's like to move through the world in a queer body. I hold a special place in my heart for supporting other queer people in their process of coming into unapologetic authenticity. Specific aspects of queer experience that are commonly brought into therapy by the individuals I work with include: questioning and/or exploring sexual orientation and gender identity, religious trauma, and internalized identity-based shame. 

ADDITIONAL ISSUES I HELP WITH

If you're wondering how I may help with the issues you experience, feel free to reach out for a consultation. I'd like to learn about your unique struggles, and together we'll decide if working together feels like a good fit.