LCSW, 4 years of experience
New to Grow
I can help you navigate through change: job loss, grief, family estrangement, divorce/breakup, gender exploration, working on anxious attachment or people-pleasing. Together, we can work to integrate trauma, depression, anxiety and other symptoms into a life that feels worthwhile, however you define that. There's definitely more than one path for healing, and what can look like stability to some can be uncomfortably stifling to others. I will utilize a combination of narrative therapy, motivational interviewing, DBT/CBT skills (very optional!), feminist therapy and insight-oriented therapy to help you find your way forward. My biggest rule in therapy is "no trauma shaming." That is, if you are sharing your trauma and include a qualifier such as "other people have it worse," I will remind you that your trauma is valid! Surviving trauma is difficult enough; shame is a log lying on the train tracks. We can move it, and move forward, with the correct equipment.
In our first session, we will see if we are a good fit. It is very difficult to do the work with a therapist if you don't feel a connection! I encourage people to advocate for themselves if they don't feel a connection--the right therapist is out there for you. We will also identify goals and boundaries.
I bring a sense of humor, a big-picture view, and the wisdom gained from a full and unconventional life. I have been working in the mental health field since 2013. I spent over five years working in supportive homes for dual-diagnosed unhoused people, and I worked at a mental health urgent care during the more acute stages of the pandemic. I have been providing one-on-one therapy since 2021. Some identities I hold that may be useful to know: I am queer and non-binary. I am from a varied class background, and grew up a combo of middle/working-class. I have lived experience with poverty and mental illness. I am a Xennial (the mysterious shoulder generation between X and Millennial!). I am in my 40's. I am childfree by choice. I am white, and have been interrogating my white privilege since I was a teen in the 1990s. I have been an activist since the 90s. I have spent nearly 20 years volunteering in solidarity with incarcerated people, and that work has shaped my entire life.
My sincere goal is to create a connection with you that is collaborative, accepting, exploratory, honest and safe. Together, we can process your experiences and work on skills to help manage unwanted emotions and reactions. I am a member of the LGBTQ community and well-versed in poly dynamics. I believe strongly in health at any size. I tend to work well with people who value direct communication. I also work well with people who feel that they're "too weird" for therapy, or who have felt shamed or othered by health care professionals in the past. I spent many years working in crisis mental health, including in-person during COVID. I work well with healthcare workers navigating burnout and moral injury. I am good at helping people identify when they are taking personal responsibility for a systemic failure, and how to do good work and maintain equilibrium in a system that can feel devastatingly unfair and counterintuitive.
We hold a lot of trauma in our bodies. Treating trauma with talk therapy alone is not always effective--together, we will find ways to let the trauma out of our bodies, integrate it and store it where it will not be as much of a burden.
Not all modalities are a perfect fit for every person. Together, we will find the one that works for you.
DBT isn't for everyone, but for those with whom it resonates, it can be extraordinarily helpful. I am extensively trained in DBT and am happy to weave its concepts into our treatment. I am a big fan of "buffet-style" DBT--take what you like, leave what you don't.