Specializations
Depression and Anxiety
While the experiences of feeling sad and of feeling worried are quite universal, the way that they manifest can be very different for each of us. It’s important to me to understand how distress looks for you - is it leading to body aches? Are you feeling more irritable, especially with people you usually get along with? Are you struggling to connect with your work or with your loved ones? Possibly, none of these descriptors feel right, and you’re just trying to make sense of why you feel unsatisfied, and things simply aren’t where you want them to be. My approach to therapy is to give you a space to understand how you’re feeling, and start to build a sense of why. As you grow in your understanding of your relationship to your emotions, you may find that you feel empowered to use this knowledge of yourself to make different decisions. I would love to work with you to share more about my psychodynamic approach to therapy, and how we could possibly use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques in order to help you heal and grow.
Are you looking for empowerment in your journey?
Cultural Concerns
Have you felt misunderstood or boxed into identities that don’t fully reflect who you are? I have heard too often about the trauma that comes from feeling misunderstood, and hope to offer you a different experience. Whether you’re processing conflict with your family of origin, struggling with your developing identity, or worrying about how to untangle cultural expectations from your own wants, I’m here to help. Despite differences we may hold in identities and in experiences, I hope you’ll find a space that is warm and understanding, rooted in the principles of social justice. It’s very important to me that you don’t feel that you have to teach me, and instead find therapy to be inviting and non-judgmental.
Does that sounds like a fit for you?
Exploring Spirituality
Spirituality, in my experience, is too often misunderstood and ignored in therapeutic spaces, but it’s important to me that you feel safe bringing in as much or as little of your relationship to religion and spirituality to our shared space as you would like. I use a holistic approach as a psychologist, appreciating that spirituality and religion can be assets as well as complications in our lives. Together, we can understand mindfulness wholly, as we appreciate the idea of bringing balance to your life. Holistic psychotherapy is a term used widely, but to me, it means being able to pay attention to all aspects of your life - nutrition, your physical well being and your energy level, and your relationships, just to name a few. I have experience working with clients of many different faiths in exploring, questioning, and deepening their individual connections to their faith.
Would you like to learn more about this approach?
Premarital Couples Therapy
Finding secular or non-traditional premarital counseling can be difficult, and I hope to give you a different experience. You and your partner may look different from traditional images - whether it is your ethnicities, religions, gender or sexual orientations, or so many other axes of diversity. My hope is that we can together create a space that allows you and your partner to explore your friendship, your shared goals, and how you want to be able to work through the inevitable conflicts of life. I work to create a space that uses principles from Emotionally Focused Therapy to help both of you feel comfortable with sharing your needs with your partner. I also hope to draw in techniques from the Gottman Method to help you develop the skills to process conflict and repair. Above all else, I want to understand where you are in your journey together, and help provide a space that allows you to move closer to your goals for your relationship.
Is this what you and your partner are looking for?