A space to get honest, find clarity, & take action.

I’m not for everyone, and that’s okay. I became a therapist in midlife, and have almost two decades of career experience in regulatory administration. I do not have a personality with all the edges smoothed off. I ask a lot of questions, am comfortable with four-letter words, and am a bit geeky. I don’t think I can ask you to bring your real self into therapy if I’m not willing to show up as a real person, too.

You can bring your doubts and deeply personal decisions about your own life and well-being into the room. You don’t need to make them more palatable for me.

The relationship between you and your therapist is one of the most important parts of successful therapy. That’s what the research says. It’s what I’ve noticed in my own therapy. If it’s not the right fit, it’s not. And if something between us isn’t working, I want you to tell me.

I’m not interested in judging your patterns as "good" or "bad." I’m interested in understanding what they’re trying to accomplish — and whether the choices that follow are taking you closer or further from the life you imagined you’d have by now. And if you’re not even sure what you want anymore — we start there.

There will be room to vent when you need it, but I won’t let you get stuck in session after session of “problem of the week” territory without checking in about whether that’s how you want to use our time — or if it’s something else happening “under the hood,” so to speak. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not.

I’m equally aware that moving too fast can be counterproductive. We’ll stay connected about how the pace is working for you.

Coping skills are surface level tools that can absolutely be useful, but they don’t get at the root of an issue. A pattern like over-functioning, self-abandonment, or avoidance is there for a good reason, and a tool isn’t magically going to make that go away. Whatever the pattern, it helped you in some way, at some time, even if that’s not entirely the case now. Your system is invested in holding onto it. So rather than just give you more Band-aid solutions, my approach is to help you dig deeper into whatever it is that’s keeping the pattern going, and turn that insight into real change. 

This can look like untangling problematic beliefs and stories that are holding you back. It might mean doing some work with EMDR or ART. It may mean helping you to expand your in-the-moment emotion regulation skills, or break up with habits you don’t like, or explore how to make your goals more accessible by turning them into bite-size pieces that don’t trigger your survival strategies.

Throughout, you begin to teach yourself through your actions that lasting change is safe and accessible — and that you have your own back.

I’m not interested in judging your patterns as "good" or "bad." I’m interested in understanding what they’re trying to accomplish — and whether the choices that follow are taking you closer or further from the life you imagined you’d have by now. And if you’re not even sure what you want anymore — we start there.

There will be room to vent when you need it, but I won’t let you get stuck in session after session of “problem of the week” territory without checking in about whether that’s how you want to use our time or if it’s something else happening “under the hood,” so to speak. Maybe it is, maybe it’s not.

I’m equally aware that moving too fast can be counterproductive. We’ll stay connected about how the pace is working for you.

No one feels happy, great, or good all the time. 

Life is sometimes really unfair, painful, and heavy AF. If you tell me you’re “trying to look on the bright side” — but there really is no bright side — I’m not going to rain toxic positivity on you. Sometimes things just suck. With me, you don’t have to pretend that they don’t.

If you’re shoulding on yourself, I’m going to gently bring attention to that. “Should” is often a sign that we’re not connected to reality; rather, we’re stuck in an unhelpful story. Once we drop the should, we can look at what is, and make real moves from there.

And sometimes the work is getting through the hard thing without losing touch with what matters to you. It can help to have someone alongside you at these times.

Maybe you’ve tried therapy in the past that was all talk, no action — or not enough of it. Sure, this is talk therapy. My job is to help you increase your self-awareness in the areas where things still feel confusing or clouded. But insight isn’t the end-game. The real work is where you create the life you want — through your actions. 

Although change can happen in bursts and starts, it’s most common for it to happen slowly and gradually over time — annoying! But normal. So it’s not about getting it right the first time. We’ll try things. Some will work. Some won’t. We’ll adjust. We’ll laugh when life serves up a slice of humble pie. Perfection not required. 

Together, we’ll slow things down, practice new ways of responding, and troubleshoot when old patterns show up again. I’ll support you, challenge you, and help you stay accountable along the way.

If you’ve spent years believing that pushing yourself harder was the answer, you may be surprised to discover that meaningful change doesn’t always require more pressure. And if you’re wondering whether this means becoming less ambitious or caring less — that’s not what I’m saying.

You don’t need to become an entirely different person. I am inviting you to discover a different way of being the person you already are — one that relies less on anxiety, the approach-avoidance dance, self-criticism, or relentless pressure to get where you want to go.

I can help you learn to respond differently when the old fears and habits show up, so they have less say in what you do next. We’ll work on turning towards the hard things instead of avoiding them — and making choices that move you closer to the life you want to be living.