THERAPY

I work with adult individuals from a primarily psychodynamic framework, meaning that the relationship I build with you is an integral part of your change and healing process. It’s arguably even more important than what we actually talk about or do in therapy.

While you come to therapy with a specific set of issues you want to address, the theme of every experience is relationship. How do you relate to others? To yourself? To your thoughts and feelings? To the things that happen to you? When we focus on the relating rather than what you’re relating to, big insights and change can happen from within, which allows us to then affect change on the outside.

Areas of specialty:

• Attachment anxiety

• Relationship conflict

• Family of origin trauma and wounding

• Guilt and shame

• Masculinity and femininity

• Self-discovery and personal development

• Dating and building relationships

• Breakups, separation, and divorce

• Spiritual and existential exploration

How we’ll work

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the practice of observing what arises in the mind without judgment. Every single thing that we experience comes through the mind: anxious worries, depressive thoughts, mood swings, even triggers of past traumas. Learning to understand how the mind reacts allows us to take control of our narrative and how we respond to the world.

Inner child/parts work

Emotional pain often arises from unresolved wounds from early life. As we grow up, we keep reacting from those wounds, resulting in painful patterns of fear, anxiety, and distress. Connecting with the original wounding with compassion gives us the opportunity to understand what it needs and offer true safety and healing.

Relationships

Attachment is how we relate to others and what they represent to us. It defines our relationships — most prominently, our partner relationships. Understanding our attachment style, how it was developed, and what we’re seeking to fulfill in relationship gives us more control of who we choose, the dynamic we co-create, and how we behave in intimacy with others.

Masculinity

When a man is disconnected from healthy masculinity, he feels anxious and deflated. He worries that he’s failing to live up to his potential to provide for and protect his loved ones.

He might struggle with powerlessness, emotional weakness, or anger and irritation that he doesn’t know how to express without being labeled “toxic.” He feels that he’s lost control in his relationships — that nothing he does will ever be enough.

Modern Western culture’s false mythology about masculinity has created generations of men who have not been allowed to lead, rise to power and self-confidence, or command respect.

Exploring true masculinity means challenging current social norms to connect with your intrinsic nature as a man and begin to honor it rather than fear or demonize it.

You will awaken to the grounded and confident man you want to be in community, career, relationships, and family, and begin to gain back the control and command you were always meant to have.

Femininity

When a woman is not grounded in her in femininity, she feels constantly nervous and on edge. The world feels unsettling, and although she may have deep grit and resilience, she’s always afraid she might buckle under the enormous mental load she carries for her relationships and family.

She is often disappointed in her relationships and feels that no one truly shows up for her in the way that she needs.

The common female experience of anxiety, agitation, and exhaustion is a result of the cultural dishonoring of feminine nature and its inherent value.

Feminine power is in connection, intuition, reception, and creation, but women have been taught to prioritize competition, intelligence, achievement, and provision — all of which are qualities of masculine power.

We can reconnect with the feminine by learning how to relax into vulnerability, both in ourselves and others. This foundation of safety allows us to connect and create from a place of emotion, intuition, and deep wisdom.

Spirituality

It’s in our nature as humans to seek answers to seemingly unanswerable questions, like “Why am I here?” or “What is my purpose in life?” or “Why did this happen to me?”

Trying to figure out the answer by only using cognitive data — what we rationally know — often leads to bitterness, resentment, more questions, or self-blame.

We feel lost and confused, especially when difficult things happen that are out of our control. We want a neat and tidy explanation so that we can prevent them from happening again.

But the truth is that there is nothing we can concretely point to that answers such deep, all-encompassing questions. Trying to find evidence or proof only leads us to ruminate and spiral in frustration and helplessness.

Spirituality is the belief and exploration of what exists beyond our immediate control and comprehension. It invites us to let go of our grip on thinking and connect with the intuition that we’ve always had, but perhaps lost touch with along the way.

It’s through this intuitive knowing that we can rest in answers that give us the most grounding, understanding, and peace.