"There is a voice that doesn't use words.  Listen." - Rumi

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Change requires leaving the safety of familiarity.  I recognize the amount of trust and vulnerability that goes into initiating change, beginning therapy and choosing a therapist. You want to know that your therapist will understand you, believe you, feel safe, be kind, and be a good personality fit.  Trust is easier to access when we know our therapist can hold two opposites: being honest and direct, while also being gentle and tender to our feelings. There is certainty in honesty and safety in gentleness. 

 

I assume you have tried to change on your own - it’s usually where we all start. Maybe you had great success, or maybe not. But either way we usually get to a point where we need someone else to join us as a pillar of support & guidance. 

 

Your inner world probably reflects the family you grew up in. Going inwards can feel: destabilizing, threatening, scary, heavy, empty, stressful - and much more. I hope I can provide you with a new foundation for your inner world so you can reclaim yourself.  To fill you with love, hope, softness, playfulness, structure, confidence and safety. 

 

Imagine having a space to fully express yourself freely, not needing to be careful with word choice or phrasing.

 

A space in which you don’t have to apologize for being yourself or speaking honestly. Where you don’t have to shield yourself against cold criticism. 

 

A space to calm the raging emotional seas, bring clarity to muddy feelings, provide direction through overwhelming thoughts or distressing situations.

 

A space that provides stability through the process of therapy, which can feel destabilizing at times. 

 

A space with whatever amount of masking you prefer. 

 

A space shared with someone who:

Understands pain and the creative ways we fight feeling it

Wants to understand your conditioned self while also wanting to discover your core self underneath 

Will speak honestly and plainly, help you discover specific areas of growth and create plans for achievable change 

Will help guide you to learn how to take up space in the room, at your own pace. 

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I hope you can take the nurturance from our time together and carry it in your heart with you forever.

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For those who are curious about the more technical side of therapy:

 

 I pull from whatever theory necessary to help a client, but I primarily orient my work through attachment, NARM, neuroscience, somatic/Gestalt, parts work/DNMS, and narrative frameworks.  If you have a visual brain, I love using visualizations and dream analysis as compliments for our work. 

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Working with Trauma:

 

Awareness and understanding, CBT/DBT therapy techniques such as changing our thoughts/how we think, changing our behavioral patterns/reactions are not enough to heal our trauma.  You may find yourself feeling unfulfilled in traditional talk therapy, being told to "feel your emotions" but not being guided through the process and left feeling confused, defeated, or maybe even feeling like you're failing therapy somehow.  As a therapist I provide clear structure & guidance to explore all the parts of yourself you've kept in the shadows in order to survive, process the sharp glass shards of traumatic memories, actually teach you how to process your emotions, and reclaim the parts of yourself you've lost along the way. 

 

I ground our work in these somatic approaches: Brainspotting (what is that?),  Accelerated Resolution Therapy (what is that?), DNMS (what is that?) and trauma-sensitive mindfulness to guide you through healing the "stuck" trauma.  

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Education: 

Master of Arts in Psychology
Phillips Graduate University

Thesis: Ghosts of Childhood Past: Pathological Narcissism as a Defense Mechanism and its Impact on Future Generations

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
California State University, Northridge