Whether you are experiencing grief over the recent death of a loved one or an estrangement or you are feeling ready to explore the impact of a loss that occurred long ago, you don’t have to do it alone. I have a great deal of personal experience with bereavement and mindfully carry this intimate and sacred knowledge into my clinical work around the subject. I believe that grief is not something to ‘get past’ but to integrate. In working with me, you won’t find empty platitudes and cheerleading that overlooks the depth of your pain. You’ll find companioning as you honor who and what you have lost and learn how to reclaim joy and fulfillment.

Many people come to therapy to address challenges within their romantic and platonic relationships, seeking to shift patterns that are causing disconnection or stuckness. One area of relational work I am passionate about is family of origin - exploration of early or ongoing family experiences, familial wounds, and generational cycles. Another area I commonly see is codependency or emotional enmeshment, which can look like people-pleasing, disowning of your own authentic thoughts and feelings, or embodiment of the phrase “I’m not okay if they’re not okay”. Sometimes, work around codependency comes hand in hand with healing from narcissistic abuse.

Sometimes anxiety presents as a specific phobia (for example: social anxiety) and sometimes we experience it as a general feeling of unease or low-lying dread. You may even describe yourself as an “anxious person”. Rather than using this self-knowledge as a restrictive label, we can reframe it as something to befriend and work with, managing with coping skills tailored to you.

Life transitions, whether chosen or unchosen, can bring on stress and be destabilizing. Examples of common life transitions include moving, graduating, changing careers, forming or ending a relationship, or entering a new life role (ex. Caregiver). Therapy offers a grounding space to process the impact of a transition and the emotions that arise around it.

Trauma is the emotional (hopelessness, anxiety, etc.) and physiological (sleep, energy, appetite disturbances, etc.) response to a distressing experience or a series of them. Acute trauma can occur after a singular event, such an accident, while chronic or complex trauma can manifest in response to repeated relational trauma (physical, emotional, sexual abuse). Trauma work can look like gentle processing of these experiences, exploration of impact on your life today, and fostering of coping strategies to help you ground into the present. I occasionally make recommendations for additional modalities (ex. EMDR) as needed.

Therapy is not only a service to turn to when in crisis. You can also think of therapy as an outlet for you to deepen your relationship with yourself! This may look like engaging in shadow work to identify and reintegrate parts of yourself that you have disowned, exploring self-esteem challenges at the root, and writing a new story about who you are.