Areas of Expertise

Healing from Trauma

Trauma can affect the relationship you have with yourself, your reactions, your sense of safety, relationships with others, and change your perception of the world. Trauma lives in your body, and at times may elicit a response — like shame — that feels foreign to you. In therapy, we will work to untangle your feelings & process through the traumatic event with the ultimate goal of rebuilding trust with yourself and the world around you.

Anxiety and Stress

Anxiety is when the “should’s” “could’ve’s” and “what ifs” create a constant stream of ruminating thoughts that are difficult to escape. Anxiety places your body into a state of fear — it is overwhelming, dysregulating, lonely, and exhausting. With the use of grounding techniques, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness, therapy can help bring the peace of mind that right now feels very hard to find.

Self Compassion and Identity

Dr. Kristin Neff, researcher and cofounder of the Center for Mindful Self Compassion, asserts that the three components necessary for compassion are self kindness, mindfulness, and common humanity. In therapy, we will explore your internal narrative and values. We will identify thoughts & beliefs that no longer serve you, set boundaries where needed, and work towards accepting all parts of yourself.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism is when your drive to excel becomes your mantra of “never enough”. Perfectionism has a way of twisting a fixed mindset of success into never-ending failure. By exploring these thoughts, reframing unhelpful self talk and incorporating compassion, we will work towards accepting all parts of you as they are.

Disordered Eating & Body Acceptance

The values embedded within our society are validated by an incredibly long history of diet culture. The sad reality is that these overwhelming messages create the understanding that we are flawed, and therefore are in need of changing. For many of us, the biggest thing that we are able to control is our bodies. In therapy, we will take a closer look at your relationship with yourself, control, and begin to reframe the idea of beauty.

Relationships and Communication

In relationships — with your family, with friends, with yourself — it can be difficult to feel fully seen and heard. In therapy, we will focus on the main themes of setting boundaries, attachment style, roles & dynamics, communication approaches, and accountability. The focus will be on clarifying your needs to feel understood and ways to express them to those you care about.

Learn about treatment modalities

  • CBT involves a closer examination of the relationship between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The goal of this form of therapy is to uncover unhelpful core belief’s we attach to ourselves and shift our inner narrative to a compassionate voice.

  • “HAES principles promote health equity, support ending weight discrimination, and improve access to quality healthcare regardless of size.”

    Learn More Here: Health at Every Size

  • Open communication with your emotions is essential to effectively self regulate. We will work to increase awareness to parts of your body that become activated, where emotions and trauma are stored, and ways to find grounding.

  • The attachment bond formed at infancy and throughout childhood affects the relationships we have with ourselves and others. We will examine how your needs were, or were not, met, and work on resourcing ways to help establish a sense of security.

    To learn more, go here: Attachment

  • Our behavior is influenced by multiple factors that operate as a system. I operate from the lens that a person is made up of multiple external and internal parts. To learn more, please see this link