Licensed to practice in Georgia and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in ADHD, Trauma and PTSD, Foster Care/Adoption and 10 more.
(she/they)
New to Grow
I support adolescents/adults navigating mood disorders, C/PTSD, life transitions, neurodivergence, and existential concerns. Many of my clients come in carrying the weight of relationships that shaped them before they had words for what was happening: attachment trauma, parentification, enmeshment, conditional love, chronic invalidation. They're often called too sensitive, too dramatic, or too much. My clients want a therapist that sees the whole person, not just a diagnostic label. They know what it’s like to feel unseen, talked over, or handed a worksheet when they needed something deeper. A skilled clinician and diagnostician with 19+ years of experience, I integrate trauma-informed, evidence-based therapies within a relational/psychodynamic framework — building treatment around the individual, not a protocol. I offer a reprieve from the particular exhaustion of living authentically in places and systems that are not always affirming.
Starting therapy can feel intimidating — especially saying difficult things out loud to someone new. My goal is to make our first session feel like the beginning of a conversation, not an interrogation. We'll move at your pace, and you never have to share more than you're ready to. I'll ask what brought you to therapy, what's been feeling hard, and what you're hoping might change. We'll also touch on the experiences and relationships that have shaped you, so I can understand how to best support you. By the end of our first session, my hope is that you'll have a sense of whether I feel like the right fit. You won't leave with everything figured out — but you won't have to take the next steps alone. *** My Theoretical Background *** My work is rooted in relational-psychodynamic therapy — a depth-oriented approach that understands your symptoms not as deficits to be corrected, but as creative adaptations to painful circumstances. I believe the therapeutic relationship itself is the primary vehicle for healing: our sessions are warm, collaborative, and built on the conviction that being genuinely seen and understood is both the precondition for change and, often, the change itself. Within that relational foundation, I draw flexibly from a broad clinical toolkit, with therapy built just for you. I weave psychoeducation throughout our work, because I want you to become genuinely curious about your own patterns rather than mystified by them. I draw on attachment theory to understand the wounds you carry and to pace our work together with care. Schema therapy gives us language for the deep, recurring beliefs that quietly shape your choices. CBT and DBT offer practical tools when you need concrete skills for managing thoughts, emotions, and difficult moments. ACT and narrative therapy support the bigger questions — who you are, what you value, and what kind of life you actually want. And for those experiences that live below the level of words, I bring in somatic awareness and creative modalities (including expressive arts and even tabletop role-playing games) because healing does not always arrive through conversation. Running beneath everything I do is a feminist and liberation psychology framework. I am committed to understanding you in the context of the systems you inhabit, to never pathologizing your survival, and to building a space where people who have spent a lifetime feeling unseen finally, genuinely, are.
1. Genuine Breadth and Integration of Modalities I seamlessly move between psychodynamic, CBT, DBT, ACT, narrative therapy, existential therapy, feminist therapy, schema therapy, and humanistic approaches — often within a single session. This isn't theoretical eclecticism; it reflects a deep internalization of multiple frameworks that I deploy fluidly based on what each client needs in the moment. Depending on the client, I might draw on Jungian-informed identity work, schema therapy, narrative or hero's journey framing, or psychodynamic attachment exploration — sometimes all in the same week. 2. Extraordinary Range of Presenting Concerns My caseload spans adolescents, young adults, and older adults presenting with complex trauma, PTSD, neurodivergence (ASD, ADHD), personality disorders, mood disorders, chronic illness, relationship violence, grief, LGBTQ+ identity, and existential concerns. I hold this complexity without clinical overwhelm, and few clinicians carry such diversity simultaneously. 3. Safety and Crisis Competency Across multiple clients presenting with passive suicidal ideation, recent self-harm, and histories of hospitalization, I demonstrate measured, clear risk assessment and collaborative safety planning. I engage clients actively in identifying their own protective factors rather than applying rote protocols. 4. Psychoeducation as a Core Intervention I consistently embed psychoeducation into the relational fabric of sessions rather than delivering it as a didactic aside. This includes: **Neurodivergence**: In-depth education on ADHD (interest-based vs. importance-based motivation) across multiple clients **Somatic and physiological literacy**: Mind-body connection and chronic illness education offered in context **Relational dynamics**: Narcissistic family systems, codependency, gray rocking, etc. — presented when clinically relevant, not as a lecture 5. Deep Neurodivergent Competency I bring significant literacy around neurodivergent presentations across the lifespan. Across clients presenting very differently, I conceptualize their experiences through a neurodivergent-affirming lens, validating their identities while building practical coping capacity. I specifically address the impact of gendered socialization on neurodivergent women — an often-overlooked area in clinical practice. 6. Long-Horizon, Depth-Oriented Thinking Even in early sessions, I orient toward attachment patterns, family-of-origin dynamics, and schema-level change. I am not problem-solving for the session; I am building a longitudinal therapeutic arc. This is visible across clients where I track developing identity, codependency patterns, safety planning within an exit trajectory, and sustained existential or faith-identity work over months. 7. Practical In-Session Problem-Solving I don't limit sessions to insight. I complete referral forms with clients in real time, collaboratively write letters for vocational rehabilitation, help clients research practical tools (such as ADHD-friendly study strategies), and problem-solve real-world challenges. I see the therapy hour as usable space, not just a reflective container. 8. Warmth and Humor as Therapeutic Tools I bring genuine warmth, directness, and care into every session. I meet clients where they are — matching their language, humor, and cultural references when appropriate. This is not incidental; it is a consistent therapeutic stance that supports alliance formation with clients who have often experienced poor therapeutic fit elsewhere. 9. Cultural, Identity, and Intersectional Awareness My sessions reflect consistent knowledge and attunement to LGBTQ+ identity, gender fluidity, Polyamory/CNM, Kink orientation, racial and cultural context, adoptee status, religious trauma, immigration stress, and chronic illness identity. I do not pathologize difference — instead, I contextualize distress within systems that have often failed my clients. 10. Sustained Engagement with Complex and High-Risk Clients Several of my clients present with active or recent self-harm, suicidal ideation, histories of psychiatric hospitalization, and significant personality pathology. I maintain these cases thoughtfully, with regular risk documentation, and hold them in a relational frame that supports trust without fostering dependency. --- Why Does My Approach Stand Out? My approach stands out because it is **simultaneously rigorous and relational**. Many clinicians develop either technical proficiency or relational warmth — I have worked to cultivate both, and my clients experience me as genuinely curious about their inner worlds, not as someone running through a protocol. A second distinguishing feature is my capacity to hold **complexity without collapsing into a single explanatory frame**. Where another clinician might reduce a presentation to one diagnosis or one narrative, I hold all of it — the grief, the chronic illness, the identity piece, the systemic injustice — in an integrated way. Third, I demonstrate genuine **advocacy and collaborative care**. I use every tool available in service of my clients' real-world functioning — vocational support, safety planning, exit planning, medical collaboration — not just insight within the therapy room. Finally, my breadth of theoretical training — a psychodynamic core with an integrative toolbox including somatic awareness, expressive modalities, and even therapeutic tabletop role-playing game certification — means clients with very different presentations can each find a genuine fit with my approach.
My favorite clients are the ones who are done pretending everything is fine. They may not have all the words yet for what's going on — but there's a part of them that knows something needs to shift, and they're willing to show up and find out what that looks like. They don't have to be ready. They just have to be willing. In my experience, I do my best work with people who: Are curious about themselves. Not just looking for symptom relief, but genuinely interested in understanding their patterns, their history, and why they do what they do — even when that's uncomfortable. Have been told they're "a lot." The overthinkers, the deeply feeling, the ones who've spent years masking or minimizing to make others comfortable. You're not too much here. That depth is something we'll work with, not around. Are navigating complexity. Maybe it's a neurodivergent identity, chronic illness, a complicated family history, a faith crisis, or a life that doesn't fit neatly into a category. I genuinely enjoy the cases that require more than a simple framework. Want a real relationship, not just a service. I'm not a blank slate therapist. I'm engaged, direct, and present — and my best work happens with clients who want that kind of genuine therapeutic connection. Are willing to be challenged. Growth isn't always comfortable, and my ideal client knows that. They want someone who will be honest with them, not just validate everything they say. You don't have to have it together to start. You just have to be willing to show up — I'll take it from there.
This is the foundation of how I think about people. I'm always looking at patterns — where they come from, how early relationships shaped the way someone moves through the world today, and what's happening beneath the surface. Even when I'm using other tools, a psychodynamic lens is usually underneath it all.
I believe that healing happens in relationship — and that the connection between therapist and client is itself a therapeutic tool, not just a backdrop for other techniques. Relational therapy means I bring my full, authentic self into the room, attend carefully to what's happening between us, and use the therapeutic relationship as a living example of what safe, honest, mutual connection can feel like. For clients who have been hurt in relationships, this is often where some of the most meaningful repair takes place.
When clients are wrestling with big questions — about meaning, identity, faith, mortality, or purpose — I lean into existential frameworks. This isn't abstract philosophy; it's about helping people find their footing when the ground has shifted beneath them.
I draw heavily on DBT skills — particularly distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. It shows up across a wide range of clients, from those managing intense emotions to those learning to set limits in relationships for the first time.
I consistently help clients examine and reauthor the stories they carry about themselves — especially those shaped by difficult families, systems that failed them, or identities they were never given language for. Separating the person from the problem is often where the most meaningful shifts happen.