Licensed to practice in North Carolina and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in Racism, LGBTQ, Foster Care/Adoption and 10 more.
(she/they)
New to Grow
I work with therapists and seasoned therapy folx who have been deep in top-down processing: they're insightful, self-aware, have read the things, and learned the skills. People who want to work with me are generally curious or drawn to something different: experiential modality, an authentic, therapeutic relationship, bottom-up processing, slowing down, or want to feel more connected to themselves, others, or an experience. If you have energy circling a specific question, issue, concern, or experience and/or are finding yourself missing or longing for something, feeling stuck, wanting more, intellectualizing less, or wanting to feel more connected in some way to what you already know, please reach out.
I like to take some of the pressure off of both of us in a first session and just frame it as a "getting to know each other." Most of the time, what we need from a first session comes up organically in conversation and experiencing each other. I may find out what bring you into therapy simply from meeting you human-to-human and you may find out if I could be a therapist for you from how the experience flows. There's enough pressure in the world right? I'm often told the "kind of therapy" I do is different than other therapists. That said, I know that general questions such as "What brings you into therapy? What are your goals? " and questions of that nature can sometimes be helpful as a guide when we're getting to know each other and I can absolutely meet you there if that's the case. That said, because bottom-up processing, somatic, relational, and/or experiential therapy can be different, vulnerable, and hard to explain, I'll introduce you to how I work at the pace of our nervous systems and check in with you along the way.
I bring my experiences, education, and training into relationship and bring myself as part of the therapeutic process. I like to create a space and therapeutic relationship where we can be fully human. I see our work as deeply relational. Rather than rushing to techniques or diagnoses, I prioritize contact, connection, authenticity, and what is happening between you and I in the moment. I notice what your body is saying and what your words are saying and when we're getting to know each other, will reflect that back to you. I'm intuitive and can pick up on shifts in breathing, posture, tension, movement, and aim to pace with our nervous systems, support you to access what needs to be expressed, and help to increase your options/choice for where you are and where you want to go next. Don't worry, I'm not just uh huh and mmm hmms. I don't just listen to the story; I attend to how the story lives in your body.
Top specialties
Other specialties
I identify as
Relational
I have a Babaylan-inspired, Filipino indigenous, psychotherapy practice while operating within the realities of a Western psychotherapeutic framework heavily influenced by U.S. colonization. Part of this approach includes training from Brainspotting with Filipino indigenous psychology. As someone shaped by both indigenous lineage and colonialism, my strength is listening and tending space for what has been interrupted. Tending can be, and often is, relational, ancestral, embodied, energetic, creative, and alive. The work here is not to find a solution, but to listen and restore relation.
Gestalt
Gestalt roughly translates to the sum of the whole is different than its parts. I take a decolonized, relational approach with gestalt.
Somatic
When it feels manageable to be in your body, this approach helps to both bring awareness and tools to help support the body and mind increase awareness, choice/options, access, express, regulate, and/or process.