About Me: 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 depression, anxiety, stress management, intimacy issues, self esteem issues and body dissatisfaction, eating issues, complicated grief, and trauma-related stress. I am a gender-affirming therapist and 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. Trainings: In 2021, I completed my certification in Body Trust (created by the Center for Body Trust (formerly known as Be Nourished, LLC), a weight-inclusive framework rooted in body liberation and intended to help individuals be in compassionate relationship to their bodies. I have also been trained in EMDR and Brainspotting, Phases 1 & 2. I have also attended an Embodied Leadership training with Staci Haines and the Strozzi Institute, Transformative Justice training with Spring Up Collective, and Anti-Oppressive Mental Health training with Fireweed Collective. Other trainings I am (or have been) moving through in the coming year (2022-2023) are Foundations of Internal Family Systems (September 2022-present), a certificate program in Narrative Therapy with NTI (September, 2022-May, 2023), Decolonizing Therapy for Black Folks with Shawna Murray-Browne LCSW-C (January 2023-May, 2023), and Somatic Experiencing (March 2023-September, 2026). Work Outside Therapy Space: Outside of my small therapy practice, I work as an Assistant 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. Additionally, I work as a guest speaker and facilitator of self-awareness workshops for graduate counseling students as well as speaking on feminist critique of the DSM and clinical considerations for working with transgender, non-binary and gender expansive clients. I also do work as a consultant assisting organizations with engagement in difficult conversations, assistance with relational repair, as well as assisting organizations in the implementation of trauma-informed practices.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
I hope that clients leave feeling increasingly seen, heard, and known to themselves. I also hope that you leave with an increased amount of gentleness and self-compassion, and a greater capacity to trust themselves. Each person gets to author their own story and I consider it sacred to be a part of creating that space of possibility for that story to unfold.
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). I am comfortable drawing 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 spontaneous movement? Want to talk in pop culture? I'm in.