LP, 24 years of experience
Every individual deserves to be genuinely heard, understood, and valued. When we face uncertainty in our relationships—whether with people, places, or things—it can trigger memories of feeling lost, unsure, and emotionally isolated. These feelings can easily lead to feeling stuck. We accomplish this through a relational process in which I help you identify the thoughts and feelings that need care, not shame, so that we can prevent shaming thoughts, feelings, and experiences from impeding your life's progress. I want you to know that I aim to help you recognize where advancement and safety are found and to bring them within your reach. I specialize in working with individuals, couples, and families to cultivate meaningful connections by addressing attachment injuries that can be difficult to confront alone. Together, we will identify what is getting in the way of meaningful connection and what can be repaired, and we will take time to grieve what you choose to let go of. I emphasize the importance of building relationships and clarifying implicit feelings to create open communication. This transforms unacknowledged emotions into clear conversations and deepens relationship connections in ways that allow one to feel truly understood. Our journey together will be healing and reconnecting, fostering hope and envisioning a brighter future. My approach fosters a supportive environment where you can express your true self without fear. In this environment, you feel safe and empowered to be understood as you learn to value your true self and allow more of you to be seen.
In our first session, we will discuss why you are seeking therapy and explore how you may feel disconnected and not understood from within or with others right now. We will start by identifying your resources, shining a light on your strengths, and discussing the effects of your beliefs about yourself on reaching your goals. My goal is to create a safe environment, build a partnership, and assist you in moving safely toward your goals.
As a therapist, I aim to help you discover more about yourself and your potential. I approach my work with compassion and seek to identify, understand, and validate what is behind your present experience. My training and background working with diverse populations and mental health conditions help me quickly make the implicit explicit, catch moments of incongruence between your thoughts and feelings, and facilitate a corrective relational experience. This approach is experiential; it's an accelerated pathway to healing. The foundation is rooted in neurobiology, which means we work to find and repair the bio-psycho-social root causes that block access to a primary emotional experience. This work is attachment-based, and the most basic assumption behind the model is that all life forms come kicking and screaming into the world to survive, find, and receive nourishment and mammalian nurturing. Humans are wired to survive, but survival requires a safe emotional connection.
Individuals, families, and couples experiencing disconnection, self-shame, difficulty being vulnerable, and wanting to improve the quality of their connections with themselves and others.
I am an Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapist (AEDP, Level 3), an Attachment-Based Family Therapist (ABFT, Level 2), and at the highest level prior to submission for certification as an Emotion-Focused Therapist (EFT).
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is an attachment-based therapeutic model designed to assist couples in recognizing and altering negative interaction patterns to strengthen their bond. This approach emphasizes understanding and restructuring emotional responses and attachment needs that lead to conflicts. It highlights the importance of recognizing secondary emotions, such as frustration, annoyance, and anger, in order to access underlying primary emotions and attachment needs like fear, abandonment, rejection, and longing to feel cherished and seen.
Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) is a structured and evidence-based approach designed to strengthen the parent-child relationship to address adolescent depression and suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and fears about belonging. The therapy aims to repair any disruptions in the parent-child bond. By focusing on rebuilding trust and emotional security, ABFT helps parents become a supportive foundation for their adolescents, allowing young people to feel safe seeking help from their parents during difficult times. The therapy involves five structured tasks that guide the process. These tasks emphasize relational reframing, building alliances with the adolescent and the parents, repairing the attachment, and promoting the adolescent's independence.