I am a white, queer, disabled, non-binary femme. My pronouns are they/them/theirs. I have worked as a therapist in a variety of settings, including inpatient mental health facilities, outpatient community mental health services, womens' shelters, and university settings. I am a certified trauma therapist and have worked with a variety of different types of trauma expressions including developmental and attachment trauma, sexual trauma, and vicarious trauma and burnout. I enjoy accompanying people on gender journeys, grief journeys, and body trust journeys. I also feel deeply drawn to supporting activist-minded people and organizers. I believe that no space is apolitical, therapy spaces included. I have worked with individuals dealing with a variety of concerns, including gender and sexuality concerns, depression, anxiety, stress management, intimacy issues, self-esteem issues and body dissatisfaction, eating issues, complicated grief, and trauma-related stress. I have significant experience with counseling trans + queer individuals of all ages and backgrounds. I am also a polyamory, kink, and sex work affirming therapist. I am a certified Body Trust provider. I am trained in EMDR and Brainspotting, Phases 1 & 2. I have also done embodiment training with Staci Haines through the Strozzi Institute, Transformative Justice training with Spring Up Collective, and Anti-Oppressive Mental Health training with Fireweed Collective. I completed the Foundations IFS Circle training, a Narrative Therapy Certification through the Narrative Therapy Initiative in Salem, Massachusetts, and my first year of a three-year Somatic Experiencing practitioner training. I am currently also engaged with somatic skills training through Kathy Kain. I have a small practice. My full time job is as a professor for a graduate social work program where I teach clinical skills to graduate social workers. I also teach classes in research, social policy, trauma, human sexuality, and topics of oppression and liberation.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I prefer to gather information about you over time rather than expect you to offer every detail of your life the first time we meet. First, I require an initial 15-minute consult call to assess for appropriateness of fit and to clarify the terms of our first meeting. Our first session will focus mainly on your presenting concerns, your hopes for therapy, and any information you deem pertinent to our dialogue that you are comfortable sharing. I will assess for level of acuity and explore your current resources and supports. You will also be given space to ask me any questions about my training, therapeutic frameworks, etc. If you or I determine that we are not a therapeutic fit, I will collaborate with you on next steps in your mental health journey during the final portion of an initial session. This might include providing resources for seeking providers, brainstorming possibilities, etc.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I am not pathology driven and don't believe that anyone is a problem to be solved. I feel that I am strong in cultivating client-led, creative, joyful, pleasurable spaces for people to heal. I love to learn, so I am able to draw from a variety of leading edge and evidence-based modalities (as well as offering critique on evidence-based modalities and adapting them through a politicized lens). I draw from a variety of creative sources of knowing in my practice, such as tarot cards, joyful movement, art, music, or wilderness/earth-related exercises. I think that stories matter and that each person tells theirs differently. Want to come to session and tell me your story in only memes? Want to indulge in spontaneous movement? Want to talk in pop culture or fandom? I'm in.