LPCC, 1 years of experience
I am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with over 30 years of experience in the mental health field. I love working with clients who are seeking help while going through a challenging time/situation in life, or are seeking help to heal from trauma, burnout, or chronic stress. My approach is Trauma-Informed and Person-Centered, which means the focus is on you and your strengths, challenges, and experiences. I use Compassionate Inquiry to help you develop insight about yourself and what kind of personal growth and improvement you want to see in your life. I also use IFS, or parts therapy, and focus on your inner dialogue and parts of you that need to be healed, or loved. I like to help clients find ways of improving your inner life to match your goals, experience reduced symptoms of stress, and experience a greater sense of personal well-being. Of course, I am also well-practiced in CBT, as well as Solution-Focused Therapy. I like to use the approach that makes the most sense based on the individual and their circumstances.
Through gentle and compassionate inquiry, I guide clients to tell the story of what they are experiencing now, and in the past, that is contributing to the issues that brought them to therapy. Clients feeling emotionally safe is my number one priority from the first session.
I am queer, gender non-forming and neurodivergent myself, so I bring my personal experience, as well as my knowledge, to helping LGBTQAI+ and neurodivergent folks. In reading reviews from my clients, I often see them mention how supported, understood, and genuinely cared for they feel working with me. I am nurturing and gentle, and yet also insightful and able to help you see your authentic self. I like to use some free online personality tests you can take to help you know yourself and better understand your values, needs, and steps you can take to improve your life and overall sense of well-being. My clients appreciate that I am a progressive minded person and am not politically conservative. I work a lot with clients who are finding family relationships difficult due to different political beliefs. My own fixation on human psychology has been prominent since my teen years. I love reading about new approaches and insights about human psychology. Catch me in my free time, outside with a book and music in my earbuds, enjoying nature and learning more about the human condition. I also love poetry. Mary Oliver and Andrea Gibson are favorites. I appreciate podcasts like "We Can Do Hard Things" and Dr Mayim Bialik's podcast. I have 4 cats and love animals and creatures of all kinds. I have two adult children, and have progressive views of parenting, including the concept of Gentle Parenting and Mindful Parenting. There are times in therapy when it might make sense to re-parent some younger parts of you, so understanding good parenting can become an important part of therapy, even if you don't have or want children.
Most of my clients present with issues with stress, depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, and challenging life situations. I have a lot of experience working with LGBTQ+ folks, as well as people who are neurodivergent (autism spectrum, highly sensitive, ADHD). Most of my clients are outside-the-box type folks and may have difficulty feeling safe to be themselves. I have worked a lot with clients who are deconstructing from conservative religious upbringings. I love helping people discover what they believe spiritually, if that is important to the client.