Get to know me

In our first session together, here's what you can expect

In our first session together, we'll start with brief introductions, then dive into the specific challenges you're facing. This will help me create a tailored plan for us to work through in follow-up sessions. We'll go at a pace that's comfortable for you. Towards the end of the first session, I will check in with you to see if you'd like to schedule a follow-up session; feeling comfortable with your therapist is very important, and I want to make sure you think we are a good fit.

The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions

I am both a feeler and a thinker. I love using 'neck up' therapy techniques, where we use the mind to understand what the struggle is about. And I also love using 'neck down' techniques--including mind-body and arts-based therapies. These left and right brained approaches allow me to help clients integrate their whole selves, leading to change, growth and long-term success.

The clients I'm best positioned to serve

I help people who struggle with bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety stop feeling at the mercy of their mood and mind shifts. My clients struggle like you do. Despite trying their best to manage the complexity of their moods and impulses, the swings and waves of anxiety and depression still feel unexpected, sudden, confusing, and detrimental. When they first come to therapy, they are depleted and sometimes defeated from riding the rollercoaster of trying to control and understand the disruptive nature of the illnesses, and are finding it harder and harder to function; medication helps, but doesn’t fix all the problems. Many have a sense of grief and loss over their ‘healthy self’ after being diagnosed and don’t know how to come to terms with and accept this new normal. The feeling that they aren’t good enough, that they are forever cursed with a shameful illness, that they can’t trust what they are feeling, is pervasive. Even in areas where they earn accolades, have success, and are loved and respected, it feels like it could suddenly shift into failure, destruction, and chaos. They struggle with relationships, and when there is conflict, they backslide into hopelessness. And when they can’t keep it together, or after a mood episode fades, no one on Earth is harder on them than they are on themselves. They are usually pretty good at masking their pain. On the outside, they are successful and can juggle work, family, and life. But on the inside, it is a much different story. A few select people see their pain and struggles and want to help, yet may not know how to. Sometimes the nature of the illness leads to strained relationships and burned bridges, which takes a toll on them. They want to feel more level, more often. They want to handle stress better. They want to avoid acting out of character and not harm their families or themselves. They want to find acceptance—that their illness does not define who they are, and want to live a fulfilling life. I get it. I truly get the pain my clients feel. And I know some ways out. It really is possible to live a meaningful life. Like my clients, you deserve to have a good life. A stable life. A consistent way of handling the maze of bipolar, depression, and anxiety stuff. You deserve to go about your day with the ability to recognize triggers, prevent them from escalating, and be proud of who you are. You deserve to know what to do and when to do it, to have tools to match the state you are in.

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