Is there something that keeps you from living life the way you want to? Do stress and anxiety keep your mind racing and make it hard to feel calm and settled? Does life feel mundane and overwhelming, like there's nothing to look forward to? Do you feel lonely, sad, and like you don't quite fit? Is there tension in your marriage that makes coming home every day create knots in your stomach? Do you yell at your kids or partner, going from 0-100 in seconds? These are just some of the things that could bring you into counseling. Seeking help can be a response to a major crisis, big life transition, or simply because you want to feel more peace and joy. There's often a stigma around mental health and counseling, but the truth is—we all could use it! Having a safe space to take time for you is an important step toward living your fullest life.
what to expect
You can expect that you'll be accepted for exactly who you are, and for exactly where you are in life right now. You have nothing to prove. I want to understand you so that I can help you better understand yourself and change in the ways you want to change. I don't have all the answers and my job is not to tell you what to do. My role is to come alongside you, as a knowledgeable and supportive guide, to help you return to your wisest, strongest, most true self.
Our sessions will be driven by you and your goals. We'll work together to come up with a plan to determine what you need and how I can help you get there. Each appointment may look different; at times, having a neutral place to vent and process—to be seen and heard, and to get to own your truth by telling your story—is incredibly healing. Other times, you may need to explore concrete solutions to a problem and develop tangible, practical action steps that will help you achieve your goals. Alongside these forms of “talk therapy,” I offer a somatic, body-based, approach. I believe that everything is connected—your challenges do not just exist in your thoughts or emotions, but also show up in your body. If we want to experience deep, sustainable healing, we must integrate what's going on in the body. With your permission, I might invite you to close your eyes and begin to notice sensations in your body or the racing of your mind. The experience of slowing down and seeing what's inside can be some of the hardest, scariest therapeutic work that you'll do, but it produces change at the deepest level.
My hope is to offer a space for you to safely embrace every part of yourself—the good, the bad, and the ugly. For many of us, when there are things within ourselves that we don't like or that we feel ashamed of, we figure out ways to shut them off, numb them out, and disconnect. But doing this creates a 'dis-ease' within us, often resulting in anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges. Our work, little by little, is to connect with the parts within ourselves that we're running from. As we get to know our inner world—our fears, our shame, our loneliness—it no longer feels so scary. We start to experience ourselves as safe. The still space within us becomes our anchor. We learn that we have the capacity to hold both the joy and the pain—the light and the dark. They're not too much for us to handle. This safety within allows us to feel peace, confidence, and freedom.
