Therapy
Therapy with me can be practical, exploratory, or both.
Together we can build more steadiness in your day-to-day, understand what keeps getting in the way, and create more choice in how you respond.
Feel steadier now
Anxiety, depression, anger, overwhelm, and nervous-system regulation.
Work with what’s deeper
Trauma, dissociation, shame, relationships, and protective patterns.
Build more choice
Understand yourself more clearly and respond with greater freedom.
You are not a problem to solve.
Therapy can help you understand what has gotten in the way of feeling more whole, connected, and alive.
Trauma & Dissociation
Trauma does not always look like constantly thinking about something terrible that happened. It can show up as anxiety, numbness, anger, shame, difficulty trusting, feeling disconnected from your body, or reactions that seem much bigger than what is happening now.
Dissociation can look like feeling far away from yourself, going blank, losing access to parts of your experience, or understanding something intellectually without being able to feel it differently.
We can slow down, build resources, understand what your nervous system is doing, and figure out what feels manageable. When it makes sense, we can use EMDR, parts work, mindfulness, and body awareness to work more directly with experiences that are still affecting you now.
We do not have to rush into trauma processing.
Sometimes the work is learning how to feel safer, more present, and more able to stay with your experience before we touch the hardest material.
How We Might Work
I draw from different approaches depending on what is actually happening for you. We do not have to use every tool, and we do not have to follow the same path every session.
EMDR
Working with experiences that still feel unfinished.
EMDR is a structured approach that can help the brain and body process memories, beliefs, emotions, and sensations that still feel emotionally charged.
I do not treat EMDR like a conveyor belt. Some people are ready to work directly with a memory. Others need more time building resources or working with dissociation first. We figure out the pace together.
Parts Work
Getting curious about conflicting reactions.
One part of you may want closeness while another wants to pull away. You may understand a pattern completely and still feel unable to stop it.
Rather than asking, “How do I get rid of this part of myself?” we can become curious about what it has been trying to do for you and create more choice in how you respond.
Mindfulness + Embodiment
Listening beyond the thinking mind.
Sometimes you can understand something perfectly and still not feel any different.
Mindfulness and body awareness can help us slow down enough to notice what is happening beneath the words. When useful, I also draw from more than a decade of mindfulness practice and teaching, including iRest Yoga Nidra.
LGBTQ+ Affirming Therapy
You should not have to spend your therapy session teaching your therapist the basics of being LGBTQ+.
I especially enjoy working with gay, queer, and LGBTQ+ adults, as well as men exploring identity, relationships, sexuality, shame, belonging, trauma, and what it means to build a life that actually feels like their own.
Affirming therapy means your identity is not treated as the problem. It also means there is room for honest conversations about relationships, family, community, masculinity, gender, sexuality, belonging, and all the complicated stuff that comes with being a person.
Identity can be central
Sometimes sexuality, gender, relationships, family, or belonging are a major part of what brings you to therapy.
Identity can simply be part of you
Sometimes you want help with trauma, anxiety, work, grief, or relationships and just want a therapist who already understands the context.
Both are welcome.
Sometimes life just needs to feel more manageable.
Therapy does not always have to mean digging into the deepest thing. Sometimes you need practical support for what is happening right now.
When your mind won’t stop
Worry, rumination, self-criticism, overthinking, and difficulty settling.
When you’re overwhelmed
Overwhelm, anger, irritability, shutdown, and nervous-system activation.
When you’re stuck
Depression, numbness, exhaustion, low motivation, and feeling disconnected from what matters.
The goal is not to make every uncomfortable emotion disappear.
It is to help you respond to your experience with more choice.
Interested in working together?
Request a consultation to tell me a little about what you’re looking for and see whether we might be a good fit.