In our first session together, here's what you can expect

Your first session is not an evaluation. It is not a test. It is not a place where you have to prove, explain, or justify yourself. It is a gentle beginning. For many people who have lived in survival mode, simply arriving in a space where nothing is being demanded of you can feel unfamiliar. Your nervous system may still be watching carefully, unsure if it’s truly safe to settle. That’s okay. We honor that. There is no expectation that you share everything. There is no expectation that you have the right words. You do not have to tell your whole story. You do not have to go anywhere you are not ready to go. We begin by helping your system arrive. We slow things down. We create space for your body to orient, for your breath to deepen, for you to begin sensing that you are no longer alone in holding what you’ve carried. This is a space where you can exhale. A space where you can be met without pressure, without judgment, and without the need to perform strength. The first step is not analysis. The first step is safety. I take time to get to know you as a whole person—not as a diagnosis, not as a set of symptoms, but as someone whose nervous system adapted in meaningful ways for important reasons. You are always in control of what you share. We move at the pace your system allows. My role is to listen closely, to attune to what is spoken and unspoken, and to support a sense of steadiness and choice from the very beginning. Together, we begin to gently understand what has been weighing on you. We make space for what feels present right now—whether that is anxiety, numbness, exhaustion, disconnection, or simply a quiet sense that you have been carrying too much for too long. We also listen for what your system may be longing for: relief, rest, clarity, connection, or the ability to feel like yourself again. There is no pressure to go deep. Depth happens naturally when your nervous system feels safe enough. You are also welcome to ask questions at any point. We can talk about therapy, Brainspotting, and how I work—not just conceptually, but in a way that helps you feel whether this space is right for you. Many clients notice something they didn’t expect in that first session—not dramatic, but meaningful. A slight softening. A sense of being seen. A moment where their body doesn’t feel quite as alone. That moment matters. By the end of your first session, there is no expectation that everything will be figured out. What we will have is something more important: the beginning of safety. A shared understanding of where you are. And a path forward that honors your nervous system, your pace, and the resilience that helped you survive. This is where healing begins—not through pressure, but through the experience of finally being met.

The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions

I could list my training, certifications, and experience. But what matters most to me isn’t something that can be captured on a résumé. What matters most is the moment when your nervous system realizes—often for the first time—that it doesn’t have to brace anymore. It’s the moment when joy appears, and instead of tightening in anticipation of its loss, your body allows you to stay with it. When laughter doesn’t immediately give way to fear, shutdown, or the quiet expectation that something will go wrong. When connection feels possible—not because you forced yourself into it, but because something inside you finally felt safe enough to remain present. These moments are often quiet. Easy to miss. But they are profound. Healing from complex trauma rarely happens in dramatic breakthroughs. It happens in the subtle, sacred shifts of the nervous system. In the breath that goes a little deeper than it could before. In the moment you notice your shoulders drop without effort. In the realization that you stayed present during something that once would have overwhelmed you. In the growing ability to feel without needing to disappear. These changes are not small. They represent your nervous system doing something it could not do before. I have deep respect for the intelligence of trauma adaptations. The parts of you that became vigilant, numb, guarded, or self-reliant were not broken—they were protecting you. They organized your internal world around survival when survival was necessary. But those same protective patterns can remain long after the danger has passed, keeping your body in a state of readiness that no longer reflects your present reality. Therapy is not about removing those parts. It is about helping them finally experience enough safety that they no longer have to work so hard. It is about creating an environment where your nervous system can begin to distinguish between past and present. Where the parts of you that had to disappear can begin, slowly and carefully, to return. Where your system can rediscover what it feels like to exist without constant vigilance. This process requires care. It requires attunement. And above all, it requires safety. I see the courage it takes to begin this work. To turn toward yourself after years of having to turn away. To listen to your body after learning not to trust it. To allow yourself to hope for something different. And I pay close attention to the moments that matter most—the moments when your system softens, when your breath deepens, when you feel even a small increase in presence, connection, or ease. Because those moments are not accidental. They are evidence of healing. Every time your nervous system chooses presence over protection, even briefly, it is reorganizing itself. Every time you remain connected to yourself instead of leaving your body, you are reclaiming something that trauma asked you to set aside. Healing is not about becoming someone new. It is about helping your nervous system finally experience what it needed all along: consistent safety, steady attunement, and the freedom to exist without bracing for harm. Those moments of softness, presence, and return—they belong to you. And it is a privilege to walk alongside you as they unfold.

The clients I'm best positioned to serve

There is a reason you are the way you are. It didn’t happen randomly. It didn’t happen because you were weak, or too sensitive, or not enough in some way. It happened because, at some point in your life, your nervous system learned that it was not fully safe to relax. Maybe you grew up in an environment where you had to be careful. Where love, attention, or safety felt unpredictable. Where you learned to watch closely, to stay quiet, to be strong, or to take care of others before anyone took care of you. Maybe what happened was obvious and overwhelming. Or maybe it was subtle—the absence of being seen, the absence of protection, the absence of someone truly understanding you. Either way, your body learned. It learned how to brace. How to stay alert. How to disconnect when something felt too much. How to keep going, even when you were exhausted. These patterns were not flaws. They were protection. They were your nervous system doing exactly what it needed to do to help you survive what you lived through. But survival mode does not always turn off just because your circumstances change. You may notice that you still feel on edge, even when nothing is wrong. Or numb, when you wish you could feel more. You may find it hard to fully trust people, or fully relax, or fully be yourself. You may feel strong and capable in many areas of your life, while quietly carrying a sense of disconnection, loneliness, or fatigue that others don’t see. You may be tired of holding everything together. Not because you aren’t capable. But because you’ve been carrying it alone for a very long time. The people I work with are often deeply resilient. They are thoughtful, perceptive, and strong in ways that helped them survive. Many have lived through childhood trauma, family trauma, abuse, emotional neglect, or years of feeling unseen or unsafe. Others work in roles where they are constantly exposed to stress, crisis, or the emotional weight of caring for others. On the outside, they are functioning. On the inside, their nervous system is still protecting them. Therapy with me is not about forcing you to talk about things before you’re ready. It is not about pushing you to relive painful experiences or analyzing you. It is about creating a space where you can finally stop bracing. A space where you don’t have to perform strength. Where you don’t have to explain or justify why something affected you. Where your nervous system can begin, slowly and safely, to realize that it doesn’t have to do this alone anymore. We move at your pace. We listen to your body. We honor the parts of you that had to protect you, instead of trying to get rid of them. Over time, something begins to shift. Your body may begin to soften in places that have felt tight for years. You may notice moments of calm that didn’t used to be available. You may begin to feel more present in your life, more connected to yourself, and less driven by patterns that once felt automatic. This isn’t because you forced yourself to change. It’s because your nervous system finally experienced enough safety to let go of what it no longer needed to hold. You are not broken. You adapted to what you lived through. And those adaptations made sense. Healing is not about becoming someone new. It is about helping your system return to who you were always meant to be—before you had to spend so much energy surviving. You deserve a place where you can be exactly as you are. You deserve support that is steady, attuned, and real. And you deserve to no longer carry this alone.