Relational therapy encompasses all of the approaches I integrate.

My perspective is that if relational wounds inform our distress, influence negative core beliefs, and cause us to struggle in social contexts, is it only natural that relationships are the vehicle to healing.

This is why I say the therapeutic relationship is the most indicative predictor of therapeutic success. If we can create a trusting relationship wherein you can feel safe expressing any emotion with me, that is an opportunity for healing. If we can have corrective experiences when you are angry, frustrated, or hurt, that is an opportunity for healing. If you can graduate from therapy, and hold the value of our time together while no longer interacting as we did in your therapy, that is an opportunity for healing.

Utilizing this approach often leads to my therapeutic relationships being longer term. It takes time to build trust, it takes time to project experiences onto a new person, and it takes time to move through the work.

In short, I like to describe psychodynamic work as “past informs the present.” In long, psychodynamic therapy is a modality that explores unconscious emotional/mental processes that have been established throughout your life experience, and how they inform the way you move around the world in the present. Utilizing psychodynamic work, we will seek connections between historical wounds and present behaviors. With that awareness, we then practice ways to approach situations in alternative ways with the goal of attaining different outcomes for you emotionally and otherwise.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is a somatic/mindfulness approach to treating traumatic responses to stimuli. What this entails is identifying early life wounds, and exploring the ways these wounds have created “parts” of us. These “parts” may be protective in nature in regard to our personalities and behaviors. Similarly, they can exist as more traumatized and/or vulnerable aspects of us. Once these parts are named, we engage in mindfulness techniques to allow you form a relationship with them, and increase a sense of moderation with them. This is a modality I use with all ages in different ways.

Eye Movement Desensitization + Reprocessing (EMDR) is a widely recognized, empirically-based technique that is often successful for those working through post-traumatic stress. Is it for everyone? Not necessarily. However, we can utilize different approaches to see what may work best for you. This is a multi-phase technique that you may have seen in popular culture (commonly depicted as a therapist moving their fingers back and forth while the client’s eyes track the movement). This practice takes extensive training and consultation before certification can be achieved. I received my training within my second year in practice in 2021. Once licensed, I was eligible for certification upon continued consultation which I am actively receiving. There are different approaches to EMDR depending on the age of the client.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a commonly used treatment option for anxiety. The technique aims to connect mental processes and outward behaviors in order to address the relationship between the two. In this practice, negative core beliefs are identified and challenged, as the idea is that if we can change the belief, we can change the behavior.

Often utilized in conjunction with CBT, Exposure + Response Prevention (aka Exposure Therapy) is often used for anxiety/OCD/phobias. In this process, we create a hierarchy of anxiety-inducing activities in order to begin increasing tolerance for the discomfort these activities may introduce.

Play-based therapies (including expressive art, music, and movement) are fantastic vehicles to drive deeply process-based work with my child clients.

Utilizing play-based therapies, my goal is to allow space for emotions to take on whatever shapes, sizes, volumes, etc. they need to take in order to be processed, communicated, and coped with.

While I keep a broad collection of play-centered activities in my office, children are welcome to bring in any toys, games, fidgets, or creations of their own as well. I find this often supports the home-therapy connection, and can facilitate increased ownership of children’s wants, needs, and emotional states.