(she/her)
My name is Kathy and I have 8 years of therapy experience and 17 years of social work experience. Trauma or difficult dynamics with caregivers can leave us feeling hurt, angry, confused, or anxious. We also might feel like we don't know ourselves, like everything is our fault, that we have to be perfect, or like bad things are bound to happen. Trauma can get played out in our relationships which can cause conflict, confusion, and hurt. Because trauma happened in relationships, it can be healed in relationship. In my work with clients, I try and create a sense of safety, care, and emotional warmth so we can begin the important work of healing. These elements can give people a restorative experience where they can express feelings and truly feel held and seen. I also use a psychodynamic lens; looking at the past and childhood to make sense of current feelings and behaviors. This perspective also involves looking toward the unconscious to help reveal important themes and emotional needs. I value a collaborative and strengths-based approach, working together to build on your strengths to work towards ways in which you hope to grow, change, expand or explore important themes in your life. Together, we can work toward creating a more stable or stronger core sense of self. I’m also newly trained in EMDR and have found this incredibly helpful for clients needing to reprocess difficult experiences and memories. In my sessions, I’m hoping clients will feel my authenticity, sincerity, warmth, and humor. I hope to create a space where people look forward to coming and spending time together as we explore and make space for healing and self discovery.
In the first session of therapy, I think it’s important to have a space to connect and to begin getting to know each other. It can be a very daunting experience to meet with a new therapist for the first time so it’s important to take the time needed for the client to feel comfortable. I really enjoy hearing what brought people to therapy and some of the ways they’re hoping to either improve their lives or shift their ways of thinking. Or ways in which they hope to create a space where they can feel truly seen, heard and attuned to. I use a relational approach to help people feel comfortable and to support in building a strong relationship. This means I bring my authentic self, warmth, humor, and true care to sessions to help clients feel tended to and cared for.
My strengths include being collaborative, supportive, relational, and authentic. I am more likely to create space and assist in exploring rather than be challenging and confrontative. Although I do bring up relevant issues and important topics as needed. I believe in creating a strong partnership versus having a hierarchical relationship.
I work well with clients who are seeking to better understand themselves and who would like to explore how trauma or difficult family dynamics can create patterns of thinking and feeling that can be troublesome or hard to navigate. I work well with clients who enjoy a collaborative, relational, and exploratory approach. I also enjoy supporting clients in creating a stronger sense of self by building on strengths, processing trauma and its impact, and identifying ways in which they hope to make shifts in old ways of thinking and feeling. I work best with clients who are seeking a supportive collaborative therapist who is client-centered. I have extensive experience supporting queer, trans, and non-binary people or those looking to explore their identities or aspects of their personhood. I am more likely to ask inquisitive questions to promote exploring, versus interrupting or being more dominant or confrontative in sessions.
Other specialties
I identify as
EMDR
EMDR is a great fit for those wanting to reprocess difficult memories, or to support with anxiety, depression, and many other issues.
Gender-affirming therapy
I have a lot of experience supporting queer, trans, and non-binary clients. I seek to make clients feel seen, cared for, and affirmed in their identities. I am well versed in the challenges and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community and I am part of the community myself.
Psychodynamic
I use psychodynamic methods to support clients in examining how the past, trauma, and unconscious thoughts and feelings might be impacting them today. The hope is to uncover patterns and ways of thinking and feeling that might be troublesome, and to make links to past trauma or difficult family dynamics.
Trauma Informed Care
The foundation of my work is being trauma informed. This means I have a deep understanding of how trauma impacts people and what is needed to address it in sessions. This might mean learning about the nervous system, or ways trauma changes the way we think and feel. I use a slow pace where the client is in control of what they share or want to process. Being trauma informed means making sure the client feels in control and as safe as possible, providing education about trauma and its impact, building a strong and supportive relationship, being able to explore trauma in session in a safe and controlled way, and building on client strengths to build up a stronger core sense of self.
Strength-Based
I believe in using the strengths of a person to build and cultivate new ways of being and feeling. Doing this usually makes people feel more confident, supported, and able to make changes more readily.