LPC, 9 years of experience
I went to Naropa University in Boulder, CO, receiving my masters in Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology. So, I see psychological growth through a Buddhist lens. It’s possible to summarize that view as the movement toward authenticity, growing through versions of self that no longer feel genuine. In Buddhism that movement often starts with samvega: the realization that grooved cycles of suffering no longer serve us. We might ask ourselves: What makes me vulnerable to such cycles? How and when were the tracks laid down? We might enter a process of self-inquiry through which we become more our authentic selves, for change takes place in the heart when we grieve harmful circumstances and the adaptations of self we made to get through. In such a movement, we are waking up out of, so it’s the energy of wakefulness that’s active in us, that returns us to authenticity. Wakefulness might be the energy motivating you now to seek out a therapist. My style is collaborative: I share what I’m thinking, feeling, and formulating and invite reflection, reinterpretation, and pushback. A trustworthy therapeutic alliance is foundational to the kind of explorations that allow internal and external shifts to happen, so I hope to create a space of safety, playfulness, and depth. In facilitating the process of waking up out of, I draw from Jungian psychology, sometimes introducing dreamwork, active imagination, and archetypal and alchemical understandings. I also find parts work extremely useful in discovering and working with underlying emotions and beliefs. For parts work, I draw from the ideas and techniques of Gestalt psychology and Internal Family Systems (IFS). I also draw from the ideas and techniques found in CBT and DBT. My practice is integrated, employing a variety of modalities in the service of easing suffering and finding authenticity.
Hopefully, clients can expect to be seen, felt, and understood. They can expect a new perspective, one that might help them reorient to the challenges they are facing. They could expect to feel hope that their situation is workable and that there is a way though.
The heart of my practice is Buddhist Psychology, the understanding that in our natural state of beingness, we are spacious, compassionate, and clear-seeing. As we come into the world and adapt to our environment and its challenges, we form social selves that often work to separate us from our open, natural state. Therefore, understanding and working with our social adaptations not only helps us orient from our natural, unobstructed state but helps transmutes the fear, anger, and sense of woundedness that they carry.
I'm proficient in seeking out the root of the issue, sharing my formulation, and then collaborating so that real understanding has a chance to grow.
Any client willing to share authentically would be a good fit for starting therapy with me. Come as you are. All of you is welcome. I hope to create a safe space that fosters the deep, collaborative explorations necessary to healing. My invitation is "Come as you are; all of you is welcome," and want you to feel seen in your complexity.