Therapeutic Approach

Counseling and Psychotherapy

We take our biggest steps to healing when held compassionately in love, care, and nurturing. Relationally focused psychodynamic therapy and relational neuroscience are at the core of my practice. These inform how the brain behaves in relationships and experiences humanness across all narratives of their lived experience. This lens highlights the importance of human connection in therapeutic work to support human connection in your everyday life. I create safety and space to bring up hidden or unaddressed trauma or shame from the past, explore generational trauma and its effects, and heal attachment trauma from childhood or birth. I do this through the act of deeply listening and holding your experiences and traumas with care during our talk therapy sessions.

I incorporate the polyvagal theory, as it is central to understanding how our physiological nervous system is shaped after our original caregivers and reinforced by experiences as we grow. We can reorganize our nervous system today in safety and connection through the act of co-regulation. I bring in mindfulness and hold you in your suffering during these moments to create new pathways for the brain, body, and heart to spark safety in healing and change. This may also include inner child work, polyvagal exercises, somatic experiencing, self-compassion, or other practices that help you metabolize your experiences and emotions. Self-compassion is one of the most important components of our time together. Embracing and being gentle towards the self in all stages and forms is essential in feeling whole and well.

I value emotion focused therapy as a way to incorporate our life decisions and experiences guided by the emotions we have. Emotions are important and can inform the narratives we have experienced in our past, present, and future.

I continue to draw from liberation and social justice psychology to bring awareness to oppressive constructs, which can liberate you from harmful and oppressive ideals upheld by larger societal structures. I support work and healing within the systems around you, which can include setting boundaries or using nonviolent communication to express values and needs, as support and relationships in our lives and spaces are an integral part in feeling more connected to ourselves and the world around us. At our core, we want to feel like we are valued and we belong. It’s essential that we seek out, find, and eventually belong to spaces that make us feel this way as we do the work to change, heal, and grow.

You are brave for wanting to change and seek support. I am here to hold you and empower you through your healing journey with compassion, empathy, and connection, allowing you to feel more agency over your own life. It may feel harder before it gets better and this work takes time. Please reach out- I look forward to hearing from you soon and getting started with our work together.