LMFT, 12 years of experience
Greetings to All - I began the journey to become a therapist after leaving the military and battling cancer. I have been seeing clients since 2009 and have worked with children, adults, couples, veterans, and all manner of presenting issues. I specialize in helping people recover from trauma and especially complex or relational trauma. My style is to engage you with thought provoking questions, challenge disempowering thoughts and narratives, bolster your self care and self esteem, and help you value yourself in the same way you would someone you respect and admire.
Let's see if we are a good fit. Am I the best provider for your unique needs?
Down to earth, client centered, non-judgmental, humor is a gift :)
I enjoy working with clients that have healing to do around their upbringing. I am passionate about reaching that broken-hearted inner child and restoring their voice and sense of safety in this world. In this process, the client learns to love and honor the Self with the same compassion they would for a vulnerable child, which they too once were. Intriguingly, as clients are able to integrate and heal the wounded inner child, they become that much more healthy, authentic, and functional as adults.
EMDR is extremely helpful for clients that have histories of trauma. This can encompass major trauma experiences that involve life and death as well as complex trauma that may be less obvious but also deeply harmful. EMDR helps the brain heal from stuck memories that keep us in the past and frees us to see more clearly all the ways we have adapted and overcome our most painful experiences.
Everything we do and don't do has origins in getting our needs met. Motivational Interviewing explores those needs and how we go about getting them met. As we explore our choices and motives, we can make more informed decisions about how we live life and thus, improve our outcomes.
When we experience internal conflict about our feelings, needs, and behaviors, often times it is because there is a part or parts of us that are needing to be heard and addressed. Internal Family Systems allows us to explore these different parts of who we are and bring them into harmony and alignment with our deepest goals and values. It is a safe, compassionate, and strength based way to explore aspects of ourselves that are sometimes the most difficult to like or understand.
I have recently added the Gottman Method to my therapy toolkit and am taking on couples using this well researched, evidence based method to assess, strengthen, and preserve couple relationships.