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

My job is to listen to your story. I build connection through my natural curiosity about the different inner and outer lives we all live, the lives we wish we lived instead, and the tension found in between. Longing, loss, rejection, and other vulnerabilities can be acutely painful, poking our most tender parts. Our darkest fears distort the truth, reinforcing intimate beliefs of not being enough, capable, or lovable. Since fear lives in our nervous system, as much as in our thoughts, pain can become physical and chronic overtime. It can become important to learn perspectives and methods that target and soothe symptoms in the body, mind, and heart. To this end, I am an engaged therapist. So while I listen and explore, I also educate and practice strategies with you. We'll assess your specific situation and see what happens when we apply different models and ways of understanding, sitting with, and easing your suffering. Together we’ll collaborate to tend your inner experience - creating safer, more compassionate, and empowered ways of being your self.

The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions

My approach to psychotherapy is uniquely informed by my personal healing and spiritual path. As a lay Buddhist practitioner in my 20's, I became a hospice volunteer while working as a computer programmer. My beautiful experiences there inspired me to leave my career and go back to school to become a social worker so I could work in death and dying full time. As a medical/hospice social worker I learned all the important things I didn't learn in school about how much the body has to do with mental health. After I left hospice, I expanded on my medical experiences by developing my niche in chronic pain management/recovery. So my therapeutic approach is a blend of ancient wisdom with current research, adding common sense and heart. I share and practice with my clients the age old perspectives and ways that humans have always known to nurture and heal the parts that hurt -- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I love my work specifically because I love watching it work. I love to laugh with my clients, reconnect them to their joy, and be their reminder that recovery is possible.

The clients I'm best positioned to serve

Those who chronically suffer notice pain in 4 places -- physically, emotionally, mentally, and within our relationships. (For those who are spiritual, there can be a 5th.) Because of my medical background, often my clients find me because they suffer from chronic physical symptoms -- i.e. pain, fatigue, brain fog, hyper-mobility, nausea, weakness, vertigo, tinnitus, etc. These symptoms often cluster into syndromes like EDS, CFS, IBS, PMDD, dysautonomia, and others. They have migraines, jaw/back/hip/pelvic pains, long Covid, etc. They often have the diagnosis's that have no clear answer or solution. And sometimes the diagnosis is clearly understood and terminal. Emotionally they suffer from grief, panic, depression, and anxiety. There can be shame, anger, and guilt. I hear feelings of betrayal and injustice that can lead to always feeling guarded and withdrawn. There is isolation and loneliness. Helplessness and hopelessness. It is not uncommon to have a trauma history. Mentally, they have minds that won't turn off. There can be a harsh inner critical voice that demands perfectionism and is overly conscientious. It can tell them they aren't good enough, capable enough, or worthy of being seen or loved. Their relationships to others; to their educational, career, and financial goals; to themselves . . . have all been compromised, challenged, and changed. My clients just want their life back. They are desperate to feel like themselves again. They're restless, frustrated, grieving, and panicked -- they don't want to suffer anymore, and I don't blame them. They hurt so badly when they finally find me that they are open and willing. This is where the recovery process starts. It's beautiful to watch suffering dial back. It doesn't happen over night. But slowly and surely, it is possible to turn back the severity, frequency, and length of the your episodes. We can more than manage your chronic symptoms, we can recover your life.