My Approach
The foundation of my approach is a belief that you have the ability to heal and change when you are treated with warmth, compassion, and respect. I work with the totality of the individual to explore how emotional, physical, and spiritual resources can be used to promote healing.
I use an integrative approach, drawing on attachment theory and family systems theory to acknowledge the intersection between past experiences, including trauma, and current issues that individuals face. Additionally, this holistic and systems approach underscores that the challenges in our lives are not just ours as an individual, but also a reflection of familial, cultural, social, and environmental influences from the past and present. While many of our challenges are relational in nature, I believe that our healing and sources of resilience also lie in human relationships — both how we connect to ourselves and one another.
I am trained in numerous evidence-based practices and incorporate them into the therapeutic process, while also being intuitive, empathic, and highly sensitive, which can enhance the psychotherapy experience. I partner with you in a multifaceted treatment approach based on understanding you, your experiences, and how they have shaped who you are today, as well as incorporating techniques and skills tailored to your needs and concerns, so that you may find real and lasting change.
The following are brief descriptions of various treatment philosophies that most influence how I work:
Trauma-Informed Approach
Acknowledges the tremendous impact of trauma on our experience, outlook, emotions, relationships, self-concept, and behaviors. A trauma-informed approach helps individuals build a sense of safety, compassion, and coping skills to manage challenges and regulate difficult emotions. It also provides an opportunity to examine underlying reasons for behavior, while explicitly avoiding re-traumatization. The client sets the pace and decides whether and when to share about traumatic experiences, which is not necessary for healing, but can be a powerful experience with a kind and trauma-informed therapist.
Attachment Theory
A healthy sense of interconnectedness provides a foundation of security and safety from which we can navigate the world with courage and authenticity. Infants have a brain system designed to establish safety through their bond with at least one caregiver, and the quality of those bonds can be predictive of how we interact in the world and our relationships in adulthood. Psychotherapy offers an opportunity to heal and correct our attachment wounds and build the capacity for greater connectedness with ourselves and others.
Family Systems Theory
Highlights that we cannot understand the individual in isolation, but rather in context to the family, relationships, and other systems within which we live (e.g., social, cultural, environmental). The individual has an influence on these systems just as these systems influence how the individual thinks, feels, and behaves. To create change, it is essential to first acknowledge these systems and their impact.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
DBT is a model that focuses on skill-building so that we can acquire and practice skills to move more effectively towards our goals, and extinguish behaviors that sabotage our efforts. This lets us live more fully in the present and enjoy our relationships. DBT includes mindfulness training so that individuals cultivate the ability to non-judgmentally inhabit their experience, including thoughts, feelings, sensations, and behaviors.
Motivational Interviewing
This method is used to enhance a client’s internal motivation and commitment for change to move toward their specified goals and work with ambivalence. Motivational Interviewing uses respect, empathy, and reflection to allow clients to articulate reasons and strengthen resolve for making changes, often around health and substance use concerns. This can be more effective for generating change than being told what to do by a perceived authority figure, such as a healthcare provider. Motivational Interviewing is collaborative and supportive of self-efficacy.
Person-Centered Therapy
A collaborative way of working that allows clients to be the expert on themselves, taking the lead with what they would like to focus on and discuss, while the therapist offers acceptance, empathy, and understanding. This then helps clients internally build their own self-acceptance and compassion, which can be a catalyst for self-discovery, change, and healing.
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Listening is the foundation of my therapeutic approach. Seeing and understanding you lets me help guide you through challenges and reconnect with what matters.
