My Approach:

Psychotherapy means many things to many people. I want to spend a little time orienting you to what working with me might look like. My clinical approach is informed by my compassion and humanity, as well as extensive training and experience accumulated over the last 25 plus years. In short, I've become practical and diverse in my approach and tailor my support to your needs and goals. Therefore, what follows below is broad, and what might actually happen in our sessions could differ.

So what might you expect?

In the early stages of working together, we explore the reasons that brought you to therapy. We will discuss what you hope to achieve and what you have tried that worked and didn't work. You will set the pace and direction of disclosure that fits your comfort and need. I am holistic in my approach and listen for how these reasons affect your life, goals, relationships, work, values and emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health. We may also look at past history and see how it might affect your current concerns. My goal is to make sure the relevant aspects are explored and I will check in with you often to ensure we are on track and that you feel safe and supported.

Within these first sessions, I usually introduce practical tools that will help you obtain hope, relief, and improvement. At this stage, I often utilize tools informed by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Polyvagal Theory. We will likely practice and implement some of these in session together.

During the next phase of therapy, we start to anchor in the most useful tools to ensure they remain accessible and helpful to you. Since every client has unique needs, skills, strengths and experiences, the path forward will vary greatly. However in general, we will deepen our conversations, develop more tools and further enhance coping and sense of wellbeing in the world. Think of layers of an onion, after peeling off this first layer, we could decide to stop or we can continue onto the next layer(s). This phase can add a few weeks, months or years to the work - again layers of an onion. . . Often I will combine therapeutic skills with life coaching skills at this time as a means to further accomplish your life goals.

In this phase we could:

look at life patterns and experiences that are recurring and have held you back
create new goals for growth
deepen your connection and confidence in yourself
align further with your values
continue support in life maintenance

Evidence-based approaches not mentioned above but that I also weave into my work include: Narrative Therapy, Trauma Informed, EMDR, Brainspotting, Crisis Therapy, Parts work (IFS informed), Object Relations Theory, and Psychodynamic Theory. Still, this is not an exhaustive list. Please contact me with any questions.