Services

I specialize in working with adults who want to focus on their relationships and increase their feeling of connection to others.

  • understanding and overcoming difficulties in finding and maintaining relationships; responding to conflict; reducing isolation; managing anxiety and fears in social situations; increasing confidence; ending relationships effectively; help with life transitions and defining “next steps”

  • romantic partnerships; parenting partnerships; friendships; family of origin; caregiving relationships

  • mood states, such as feeling overwhelmed, fearful, irritable; becoming a parent; changing jobs and job loss, moving; divorce; aging; changes to identity; feeling “out of step” with peers; navigating changes in relationship roles (e.g. adult children caring for and their parent)

an integrative approach

My approach is informed by contemporary contextual behavioral therapies, which means that I work with you to understand how different situations, environments, and relationships may make you vulnerable to certain issues arising. There may be times when our actions do not align with our values and how we want to "show up" in our life. It is understandable that we will sometimes get stuck in unhelpful patterns with ourselves and with others. When we are stuck it means that we need different tools to help us respond to life's challenges. The more aware we are of how our history and beliefs are impacting us and in what situations, the better we will be at identifying when we are getting off track with living our values.  We will work together to help you respond to your difficulties more flexibly—to have more tools to work with—so that you are responding to the people and situations in your life with greater intention and effectiveness.

therapeutic modalities and strategies

I utilize therapeutic strategies from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and incorporate trauma-informed and harm-reductionist principles in my work. How does that translate to what we are doing in our sessions? In drawing from common features of these modalities, it might look like:

Learning and practicing mindfulness skills with your everyday experiences, including interacting with others, while being alone, and for making daily decisions. We can’t change what we aren’t aware of. Mindfulness skills help us to better understand our in-the-moment experiences and helps us to see our options for how to proceed.

Receiving feedback about your behavior. Problematic patterns that are present in the “outside world” are also often present in the therapy room. As we build our therapeutic relationship, I will become more attuned to you and will compassionately and precisely offer you information about how I and likely others receive you.

Experiential learning, in and outside of your therapy session. This type of learning invites you to experience being challenged and to experiment with practicing a different way of responding. Our sessions will often conclude with an “assignment” of something for you practice between our sessions.

Developing a functional understanding of your behaviors. We will work to understand your behavior in the context that it is happening and nonjudgmentally consider the effects of your behavior. Understanding why your behaviors make sense and how they are impacting people and the environment around you helps you increase self-compassion and move towards changing it.