When I work with clients, I have one agenda: for you to thrive on your terms. If you’re not sure what those terms might be – if the only thing you know right now is that what you’re currently doing isn’t working, that’s all we need to get started. We can talk about whatever you're struggling with, including squirmy topics like work (including layoffs), loneliness, parentification, ADHD, caregiving, infertility, and the perinatal era. Add together truth, practicality, and yearning. Pull out an evidence-based toolkit, add a dash of woo, and together, we’ll unpack what you’re facing and craft a pathway forward, one where you’ll feel equipped to handle what you’re experiencing. I’ve worked as a therapist for more than a decade, most of it via distance platforms, and I’ll support you with content between sessions to supplement our time together. If you want to get unstuck and find the heart of what holds you back, then we’ll be a good match. Honesty doesn't have to be harsh. It can come with sensitivity and compassion and be built on trust. My voice is soft, my support is nourishing, and my insight is sharp.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
Our first session will have a business vibe, which will be much different than our usual sessions. That first session will have a clear outline that includes covering confidentiality and going over some logistics and policies. You'll have the chance to ask me questions about my background, my training, and my style. The bulk of our time will be a pretty organic conversation where I'll ask you questions so that I can be sure that I'm clear about what's bringing you to therapy and what you want to accomplish in our time together. Ongoing sessions, where we dive into the work that you want to do, will start with agenda-setting (you don't have to have an agenda - I just ask the beginning of every session so that I don't skip over something important to you), and it will include skill-building so that you're equipped with the tools you need to make the changes that you're seeking in your life. If you want in-between session practices, we can include those, but if you don't want homework, that's fine, too.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I've worked with clients across the age spectrum to drill down to the root of what's troubling you. You'll find that I'm a generous listener with an attuned ear for patterns and themes, offering step-by-step, practical tools to move you forward.
About Margaret Graham
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts cash
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
It's so helpful to create a map of the interplay between thoughts, emotions, behavior, and results and find the root of these dimensions of mental health through underlying beliefs. It's like turning on the light in a dark room - suddenly everything is illuminated.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
One of my favorite quotes is from the writer Susan David, who says, "Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life." This quote represents the heart of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy because it invites people to identify their core values so that they can then act on behalf of those values, even when it's a bit of a stretch.
EMDR
This approach helps to rewire the neural pathways in the brain that have been formed from traumatic experiences. Before I was trained in EMDR, I thought it was a little woo. I still think it's kinda woo, but I've seen it work and I've experienced myself.
Hypnotherapy
Sometimes talk therapy just can't access the deep emotional wounds that drive behavior that isn't serving us. Hypnotherapy reaches those wounds in ways that allow release and invite transformation.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
There are three categories of parts within all of us: managers (those proactive parts that strive to prevent pain), firefighters (those reactive parts that pop up almost reflexively to distract, numb, or soothe), and exile (the young parts of ourselves that we learned to banish when vulnerability was too costly). And then there's the core self, which integrates all of these parts to embrace wholehearted living.