Methods
Therapeutic Approaches Tailored to Your Needs
I believe lasting change happens when you feel genuinely understood by another human being who cares. Not through a specific technique. Not through a worksheet. Not through insight alone.
My approach is relational, collaborative, and client-centered.
We look beyond symptoms and diagnoses to understand how your earliest relationships shaped your current patterns. We’ll explore questions like:
What did you learn about your emotions? What happens when you need someone? What do you do with anxiety, sadness, or anger you were taught not to express?
“The act of revealing oneself fully to another and still being accepted may be the major vehicle of therapeutic help.”
Attachment-Focused Psychodynamic Therapy
Attachment Theory is a framework that explores how our early relationships with caregivers shape our sense of self, our expectations of others, and how we navigate closeness and connection throughout life.
Psychodynamic Therapy explores how unconscious processes, early experiences, internal conflicts, and recurring relationship patterns influence present thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
The ways you learned to cope made sense at the time. Maybe you learned to hide your needs, manage everyone else's emotions, or stay in control to feel safe. Over time, these patterns can become so automatic that it's hard to recognize where they came from or how they're affecting your life now.
The therapeutic relationship itself becomes an important part of the work: a place to understand yourself more deeply, experience a different kind of connection, and begin relating to yourself and others in new ways.
“We often find that the harder we try to get rid of emotions and thoughts, the stronger they become. This is because parts, like people, fight back against being shamed or exiled.”
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based approach to psychotherapy that helps people understand and heal the complex inner world of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, IFS is based on the idea that the mind is made up of different “parts,” each with its own perspective, emotions, and behaviors. These parts, such as the inner critic, the people-pleaser, or the wounded child, often take on a role to protect us from pain or help us cope with challenges.
At the core of IFS is the belief that everyone has a calm, wise, and grounded center known as the Self. When we access the Self, we can relate to our parts with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment or fear. IFS therapy helps clients build relationships with their parts, gently unburdening the ones that carry pain and supporting the system in finding balance and harmony.
IFS can be effective for a wide range of concerns, including anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship challenges, and self-esteem issues.
Internal Family Systems
Somatic Experiencing
Somatic Experiencing® (SE) is a body-oriented approach to healing trauma and chronic stress. Developed by Dr. Peter Levine, SE is based on the understanding that trauma is both a psychological and physiological experience.
When we go through overwhelming experiences, our nervous system can become “stuck” in fight, flight, or freeze responses, leading to symptoms like anxiety, irritability, numbness, hypervigilance, or chronic pain.
Rather than focusing on retelling or reliving traumatic events, Somatic Experiencing helps individuals gently tune into their physical sensations and body awareness.
By tracking the body’s natural rhythms and responses, clients learn to release stored tension, complete unfinished survival responses, and gradually restore a sense of safety and regulation in the nervous system.
SE supports healing at a deep, foundational level, making it especially effective for trauma, PTSD, anxiety, chronic stress, and a wide range of physical and emotional conditions.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.”
Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Developed by Francine Shapiro, EMDR is an evidence-based method designed to help individuals heal from trauma and distressing life experiences.
Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR focuses on helping the brain process and resolve painful memories that may be “stuck,” causing ongoing emotional or physical distress.
EMDR works by using bilateral stimulation (e.g., side-to-side eye movements, alternate tapping, or auditory tones) while the client recalls a distressing memory.
This process helps the brain reprocess the memory in a way that reduces emotional charge and allows for more adaptive thinking and resolution. The goal isn’t to forget what happened but to feel less triggered by the past and more at peace.
EMDR can treat PTSD, severe anxiety, phobias, grief, performance anxiety, and other challenges. Clients often find EMDR to be a transformative, efficient path toward healing that honors their pace and doesn’t require retelling every detail of their story.
“Changing the memories that form the way we see ourselves also changes the way we view others. Therefore, our relationships, job performance, what we are willing to do or are able to resist, all move in a positive direction.”
