Therapeutic Approach
While I have experience in a range of evidence-based modalities and take an eclectic approach thoughtfully tailored to each client’s unique needs, goals, and strengths, I recognize that many skilled and compassionate therapists do the same. Besides, despite the extensive research supporting these approaches, the most powerful intervention I have witnessed is authentic human connection. We all experience anger, sadness, embarrassment, and fear—and more often than not, the experiences we feel the most shame about are not unique to us.
Many clients share that previous therapeutic experiences involved a “blank slate” approach, where the therapist’s humanity felt distant or inaccessible. I understand why this style can be helpful for some, but I believe that if I ask clients to be open, honest, and vulnerable with me, I must be willing to meet them with that same authenticity when appropriate. Specializing in trauma often means working with clients who have or are currently experiencing violence, loss, and profound grief. Remaining neutral in the face of such experiences would diminish both my humanity and the depth of my clients’ pain.
I strive to show up fully—willing to feel anger and sadness alongside you, to sit with the details of your embarrassment, and to explore the roots of your fear. If you are able to live it, I am able to hear it. Together, we will bear witness to your truth and work through it in a way that honors your resilience and supports movement toward a more hopeful future.
Person-Centered
I believe a person-centered approach is essential to the therapeutic process. Grounded in empathy, authenticity, and unconditional positive regard, this approach honors each client’s lived experience and inner wisdom. By creating a safe, collaborative, and nonjudgmental space where clients feel deeply heard and respected, I support clients in exploring their concerns at their own pace and accessing their inherent capacity for growth, healing, and self-direction.
Trauma-Focused CBT
I use trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help clients understand how traumatic experiences shape thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and to gently challenge patterns that developed in response to danger or distress. This approach combines psychoeducation, skill-building, and cognitive and emotional processing to reduce trauma symptoms and increase a sense of safety and control. By strengthening coping skills and reshaping unhelpful beliefs, trauma-focused CBT supports clients in moving forward with greater resilience and self-efficacy.
EMDR
I use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing to help clients process traumatic and distressing experiences that remain “stuck” in the nervous system. By using bilateral stimulation, EMDR supports the brain’s natural healing processes, allowing memories to be reprocessed in a way that reduces emotional intensity and negative self-beliefs. This approach helps clients integrate past experiences more adaptively, so they can feel more grounded in the present and less shaped by unresolved trauma.
Gottman Method
I completed formal training with The Gottman Institute and use the Gottman Method to help couples understand and shift unhelpful interaction patterns by strengthening friendship, improving communication, and increasing emotional attunement. Grounded in research, this approach helps couples identify cycles of conflict, reduce defensiveness and reactivity, and build skills for initiating repair and connection. While originally developed for couples, the Gottman Method can apply to a variety of interpersonal dynamics beyond intimate relationships, so I often incorporate techniques from this modality into individual psychotherapy as well.
IFS
I use Internal Family Systems to help clients understand how trauma and distressing experiences can shift their sense of self by organizing their inner world into different "parts." Trauma often leads to "exiles"—parts that carry pain, fear, shame, or unmet needs from overwhelming experiences. To protect these vulnerable exiles, other protective parts may take on extreme roles, such as emotional numbing, hypervigilance, people-pleasing, or self-criticism. Over time, these protectors can dominate, making the trauma-based responses feel like the whole self. IFS helps clients safely connect with and unburden exiles while softening protective roles, restoring access to the core Self qualities of calm, clarity, and compassion.