About Us/My Mission
Each of us is the expert of our story. We know all the gritty details that lead to the joys and strains that is life. I work with clients in a collaborative one on one format. I view my role as that of a listener and a guide to help you find a path through the parts of our stories we all want to skip over, and ultimately assist you in moving beyond feeling stuck. Through each session we will work from where you currently find yourself to the place you want to be.
Attachment is at the core of my practice. The attachments we have with our parents and other key figures impact us from a very early age. How we form attachments with ourselves and others later in life stem from our experiences in childhood and early adolescence.
Trauma plays a role. Our first experiences with trauma transpire when we are young. Early childhood trauma, which can include severe trauma, like verbal and physical abuse, but also the less understood trauma that leaves small cracks in our psyche and disrupts how we relate to the world, ourselves and others. All trauma is significant and can manifest in any form that detracts from a person’s world view. When we pause and zero in on our early experiences with trauma, in any form, we’re able to see a blueprint of how early experiences left an imprint on us and still play a role in our lives. These early experiences shape how we later view ourselves, others, form romantic relationships, friendships, work relations and determine how we relate to our family.
Working from the place where a person initially gets stalled, we are able to work through those adverse childhood experiences so eventually they lose their power, becoming a memory of the past. Once they go from something we struggle with, to a memory, we have a better understanding of ourselves and can better understand and interpret our actions and responses to anything and everything that comes along. By examining early attachment and detachment issues we can get to the root of issues such as depression, anxiety, anger, grief, and panic attacks.
None of this work is easy. Each of us is unique and the remarkable thing about therapy is there’s a multitude of methods to work from. I am well versed in EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, CBT, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and DBT, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Together we will find the method that makes the most sense for you. While we tend to think of therapy as serious hard work, which it is undoubtedly, I also believe in the power of humor and use it as often as possible in our work.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
– Peter A. Levine