My Approach

Therapy with me starts with working with you to fully describe the problems and challenges you’re experiencing. Sometimes, simply helping someone feel heard can be the most helpful service I provide. I bring warmth, empathy, and a nonjudgmental perspective to provide you the freedom to speak your truth.

Defining a problem or an experience through verbalization can do more. Speaking your complex thoughts and feelings out loud allows you to slow down, focus on specifics, translate complex thoughts and emotions into words and ideas, hear inconsistencies and conflicting concepts, and avoid unhelpful thinking shortcuts. My active, clinically-informed listening helps us dig deeper and more fully understand the details or your mental health experiences, the stakes, and how they are affecting you and others. I notice patterns and themes in the way you describe your world—word choices, power structures, body language, and other factors that help us fully explore your past and present. 

I’m good at asking the kinds of questions that help my clients develop their insights while ferreting out blind spots and biases that might obscure the root causes of a particular situation. I’m attuned to the language that each person uses to describe their lives. I’ll ask questions about your words and phrases to help you fully express your experience. What stories do you tell yourself about who you are and how you got here?

Once we’re clear on the issues and experiences that you’re looking to work on, I use my training and clinical experience to ask “why?” Why might this be happening? What led to you having this experience? What is its significance to you? Is it helping you or hurting you? How does the problem intersect with what’s going on in your life and in the world around you?

Sometimes understanding means taking things slow: breaking down your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors into smaller pieces. Sometimes it means the opposite: zooming out and looking at the larger issues at play. Sometimes it means gently but firmly sitting with an uncomfortable memory or emotion.

You’re the expert on your own life. You’re not defined solely by the challenges you’re facing. You have talents, skills, and resources. I’m there as an outsider, as someone who may be able to detect patterns or biases that are harder for you to see. I use reframing to discover alternative ways to view and make sense of a situation or problem.  

Once we know the pieces, we can seek solutions. Sometimes it looks like a balancing process. Sometimes it looks like trying out coping skills and strategies to see which ones work best for you. Sometimes the solution includes me teaching you mindfulness practices that you can use to manage your symptoms and live more in the present moment. Sometimes it involves roleplaying and practicing conversations and behaviors before using them in the real world.

I help people figure out who they are, what they want, and how to make progress in getting there. Is it possible to reframe the stories you tell yourself about your life in a way that’s more accurate, effective, and self-compassionate? How do your intersecting identities shape your life and your mental health? What processes can we use to help you attain clarity about how you want to live your life?

I can be warm when you need support. I can coach you when you’re seeking direction. I can be blunt if you want me to. It depends on what feels most helpful for you.