(he/him)
New to Grow
Hi, I’m Adam. I believe every person is born with an innate capacity to grow, heal, and create a meaningful life. Sometimes, painful experiences or unsupportive environments block that natural capacity, leaving us feeling stuck or overwhelmed. When this happens, I view your symptoms not as failures, but as purposeful signals calling for deeper attention. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, trained at Pepperdine University. My path to this work was informed by a significant "first act" in the global business world, navigating international licensing for entertainment and intellectual property. Living and working across Europe and Australia provided me with a firsthand understanding of high-stakes environments, cultural adaptation, and the universal search for identity. This background allows me to offer a grounded, real-world perspective to clients balancing demanding careers with a desire for emotional depth. In my practice, I support adults working through anxiety, trauma, PTSD, and relationship challenges. My approach is client-centered and highly experiential. Rather than just analyzing the past, we gently shift attention to what you are experiencing right now in your body. Drawing from EMDR, Brainspotting, and Internal Family Systems (IFS), we work to reconnect fragmented pieces of your experience to rebuild a sense of safety. For couples, I blend PACT and EFT to help partners co-regulate and build secure, resilient relationships. Therapy isn’t about fixing you; it’s about uncovering the capabilities you already carry. It is a privilege to offer a steady presence where we can slow down and help your true self flourish. I’m here and ready whenever you are.
In our first session, you can expect a compassionate, steady presence where we begin the process of slowing down and listening inwardly. My goal is to create a safe, relational container where you feel seen and prioritized from the moment we begin. Here is what our initial time together typically looks like: • Establishing a Secure Base: We will focus on building a "secure-functioning" therapeutic relationship, ensuring you feel safe and supported as we start to explore your inner world. • Listening to Your Signals: Rather than just analyzing your past, we will begin to identify the "purposeful signals"—your current symptoms—that are calling for deeper attention. • Mapping the Landscape: We will briefly discuss the challenges that brought you in—whether it’s anxiety, relationship disconnects, or feeling "stuck"—to understand how these experiences have shaped your current "normal". • Experiential Introduction: We may begin to touch on the "felt sense" in your body, gently shifting attention toward what is happening right now rather than staying stuck in the stories we tell ourselves. • Collaborative Goal Setting: We will talk about your innate capacity to heal and what it would look like for your true self to begin to grow and flourish. This first meeting is less about "fixing" and more about uncovering the capabilities you already carry and setting a unique rhythm for the work ahead.
My therapeutic approach is a sophisticated blend of clinical precision and a soulful, depth-oriented presence. I am committed to seeing the human being behind the symptoms, treating every struggle not as a defect to be "fixed," but as a meaningful, purposeful signal from your nervous system. By moving beyond traditional "talk therapy" and leaning into somatic and experiential modalities, I offer a unique path to healing that focuses on the maturation of your wholeness. A Somatic and Experiential Foundation The core of my work is the understanding that trauma and distress are not just "in the mind," but are physically stored in the body. My approach prioritizes the felt sense—the physical sensations and impulses that arise in the moment—over the "stories" we tell ourselves. By utilizing tools like EMDR and Brainspotting, I help you access deeper layers of the brain where trauma is often "scattered" into fragments of sensation and emotion. This allows your nervous system to gradually reconnect these pieces, release stored energy, and rebuild a sense of coherence and safety that intellectual understanding alone cannot achieve. The Wisdom of "Parts" and Systems I integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS) and a broader Family Systems perspective to add layers of insight to our work: • Individual Integration: I help you recognize that your "unwelcome" behaviors often began as purposeful adaptations to unsupportive environments. • Relational Security: In my work with couples, I blend PACT and EFT to map how partners influence each other’s nervous systems in real-time. I help you move toward "secure-functioning" where both partners feel prioritized, seen, and safe. • Generational Healing: In family therapy, I address the neuroaffective impact of dysfunctional dynamics, such as emotional mis-attunement or abandonment, helping the entire system move toward more nourishing connections. The Unique Value of Lived Experience My work is enriched by the perspective that comes with my background as a licensed professional in both mental health and law. Having navigated a significant career transition into psychotherapy, I bring a grounded, real-world wisdom to the room. • Relatability: I understand the complexities of life-altering events and the weight of long-term patterns because I have navigated the transitions of middle age myself. • Patience for the Process: My approach is "soul-based" and honors the unique rhythm of your inner life. I know that true transformation oft
I provide a compassionate, trauma-focused space for adults to heal and transform. My approach is eclectic and non-pathologizing, viewing symptoms not as failures, but as purposeful signals calling for deeper attention. I am best positioned to serve those navigating: - Trauma and Stress: I work with individuals facing PTSD, Complex PTSD, and the fragmented memories caused by childhood, medical, or relational trauma. - Individual Growth: I support those dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, and feelings of being "stuck". My work focuses on the maturation of your wholeness and the unfolding of who you truly are. - Relational Health: I help couples and families build secure-functioning relationships through PACT and EFT, focusing on co-regulation, repair, and interrupting destructive cycles. My practice draws from a diverse toolbox of evidence-based and experiential therapies, including: - Somatic & Experiential: EMDR, Brainspotting, and Somatic Psychotherapy to access the body's deep wisdom and process stored energy. - Parts Work: Internal Family Systems (IFS) to relate to different internal "parts" with compassion. - Relational Models: Attachment-based neuroscience, Family Systems, and PACT. I believe that the capacity to heal is innate and awakens with the right support. By slowing down and listening inwardly, we can reconnect fragmented pieces and move toward a life of clarity and confidence
EMDR
In my practice, EMDR follows a structured flow. I begin with resource building, ensuring you have grounding techniques like a "Calm Place" before we address difficult memories. Together, we identify a specific target memory, the negative belief it carries, and the physical sensations it triggers. The "work" involves sets of Bilateral Stimulation (BLS)—such as eye movements or handheld tappers—to help your brain "digest" the trauma. This process continues until the distress clears, allowing you to authentically believe a positive, adaptive thought. By accessing the nervous system directly, I use EMDR to bridge the gap between knowing you are safe and actually feeling it in your body.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
I often apply ACT to help you move away from experiential avoidance—the energy-draining attempt to outrun or suppress difficult emotions. Because my approach is depth-oriented, ACT provides a practical framework to help you stop "waiting to feel better" before you start living. By increasing your psychological flexibility, we work toward a life defined by your choices rather than your symptoms.
Attachment-based
In my practice, I use an attachment-based orientation to explore how your earliest relationships created a "blueprint" for how you experience intimacy, trust, and safety today. We look at the ways you learned to adapt to the needs of others as a child and how those same survival strategies might now be causing friction in your adult life.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
In my practice, I utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a practical, goal-oriented framework to help you understand the powerful connection between your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions. While my overall approach is depth-oriented, CBT provides us with concrete tools to interrupt the cycles of distress that keep you feeling stuck in your daily life.