Licensed to practice in Ohio and accepts 9 insurances. Specializes in Personality Disorders, Trauma and PTSD, Emotional Regulation
(she/her)
New to Grow
# Welcome to The Unraveling Room. For more than 25 years, I have worked in community mental health, crisis intervention, and hospital-based psychiatric practice. I've learned something along the way: **People are complicated.** I'm comfortable there. Maybe your story includes trauma, bipolar disorder, depression, personality disorders, chronic pain, complex medical conditions, or functional seizures (PNES). Maybe you've collected diagnoses, medications, specialists, and years of therapy—and still feel that no one quite understands the whole story. **You are not a diagnosis.** And you are not a problem waiting for the right therapeutic technique. You are a story. I don't fear your anger. Your intensity. Your contradictions. Your messy history. Or the part of your story you've been afraid to say out loud. **Bring it.** I am an active therapist. I listen deeply, but I also ask questions. I notice patterns. I make connections. I challenge when I believe it matters. We may laugh. We may work on practical skills. And sometimes we will sit together with something neither of us can fix. Medication can be an important tool. Medical care matters. When appropriate, I will collaborate with your psychiatric or medical providers. But **the relationship matters.** Twenty-five years of experience cannot replace what happens between two people in a therapy room. And I am not the therapist for everyone. If you want someone to mostly listen, I may not be your therapist. But if you want someone willing to enter the labyrinth with you—to ask difficult questions, follow unexpected turns, and stay when things get uncomfortable—we might fit. Our lives are patterns woven from countless threads. Some we chose. Some were handed to us. Some held us together. Some became knots. **We don't unravel you.** We unravel the pattern. **Bring your story. Bring the threads.** Let's see where they lead.
In your first session, I want to understand what is really happening—not just your diagnosis or the version of your story that fits neatly on a form. I am direct, curious, and actively involved. I will listen carefully, ask questions, notice patterns, and help you connect pieces of your story that may not seem connected. You do not have to organize everything or make yourself easy to understand. Bring the complicated parts, the contradictions, and the things you have been afraid to say out loud. I can handle them. Together, we will begin figuring out what needs to unravel and where we go from here.
I bring more than clinical experience into the room. I understand what it is like to feel different. To be the overthinker. The intense one. The passionate one. **The one who opens her mouth and five minutes later wishes she hadn't.** I know what it's like to replay a conversation afterward and think, *Why did I say that?* WARNING: I might cuss! I also bring lived experience. I know something about serious illness, medical uncertainty, and living in a body that doesn't always cooperate. I know what it's like when life doesn't follow the path you thought it would. That doesn't mean I know your experience. **Your story is yours.** But it does mean that weird, complicated, uncomfortable, or difficult-to-explain experiences don't make me pull away. You don't have to make yourself sound normal for me. You don't have to tone yourself down. You don't have to have the right words. Bring the overthinking. The intensity. The awkwardness. The anger. The contradictions. Bring the thing you said that you wish you could take back. Feel free to correct me and tell me when I am wrong. My clinical training gives me tools. My lived experience gives me perspective. And more than 25 years of sitting with people has taught me something else: **Being human is messy.** I'm comfortable there. Tell me your story. Let's get curious about it together.
My ideal client is an adult whose story does not fit neatly into one category. You may be living with trauma, depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality, chronic pain, complex medical conditions, functional symptoms, difficult relationships, or several diagnoses that still do not explain the whole picture. I believe in using medication and how that might be helpful for you. Perhaps you have been in therapy before, collected coping skills, tried different medications, or seen multiple providers—but you still feel misunderstood. You may function well on the outside while privately feeling overwhelmed, emotionally numb, angry, anxious, or stuck in patterns you cannot seem to change. You might understand intellectually why you do certain things but have difficulty changing them. You do not need to organize your story or make yourself easy for me to understand. You can bring the contradictions, the intensity, the uncomfortable feelings, and the parts of your history you have been afraid to say out loud. Complexity does not frighten me. I work best with people who want an active and direct therapist. I will listen carefully, but I will also ask questions, notice patterns, make connections, and challenge you when I believe it may help. We may explore how your past continues to shape your present, work on practical skills, examine relationships, or focus on what is happening in your life right now. You do not need to have everything figured out before beginning therapy. You only need some willingness to show up, be honest, become curious about yourself, and participate in the work we do together.
I don't believe one type of therapy works for everyone. I use different approaches depending on you, what you're dealing with, and what seems most helpful. Sometimes we'll work on practical skills, and other times we'll look at patterns, relationships, past experiences, or what's happening in your life right now. I'm an active therapist—I ask questions, notice patterns, make connections, and offer tools along the way. I adapt therapy to you rather than expecting you to fit into a particular therapy model. Tools might include coping and grounding strategies, emotion-regulation skills, CBT exercises, ways to challenge unhelpful thinking, behavioral experiments, mindfulness exercises, sleep strategies, chronic-pain coping techniques, schema worksheets, journaling prompts, communication and boundary-setting skills, anxiety-management strategies, and psychoeducation. I have tools I can send to you on text or email!