About
Trauma impacts how you see yourself and the world.
We all create our own mythologies and stories around the emotions of what has happened to us.
When trauma happens, it disrupts that growth.
We get caught in eddies of memories, twisted or distorted thinking, and emotions and feelings that don’t seem to match our outside worlds.
Trauma affects everyone differently.
No one gets to decide for you if something was traumatic.
You’re the only one who can know.
Escapism as a solution – or not…
We try all kinds of ways to escape that discomfort, and often they don’t work – or only work for a little while.
We will run into the pain over and over until we heal. It is like trying to run with a broken ankle. If it isn’t fully healed, it will hurt again.
This is where addiction and relationship problems often come into the picture. The relief from that first drink or hit or the amazing dopamine rush of “New Relationship Energy” is such a relief from that pain.
But like any pain relief, it doesn’t actually do the healing work, especially if the pain relief of choice continues to harm us as often happens in addiction or unhealthy relationships.
Feeling pain, fear, or anxiety is normal to being human… but
When those feelings interfere with our lives, our relationships, and our ability to take care of ourselves, it needs extra attention and care.
This is where therapy can help!
Therapy is a relationship service.
Like any relationship, therapy works best when established with warm rapport and trust.
In our first session, the focus is on you and getting to know me.
You ask me questions and get a sense of what it is like to be in the room with me. It’s okay to “word vomit” if this is what you need to do.
Therapy provides a safe space to let out your true feelings.
Often, in professional and personal lives, we put on a façade of “I’m ok.” At the same time, we need a place to let down and scream, “I’m not ok!”
The latter is what you can do with me. You give me the pieces, all the mess, all the scary parts, the shadows; and my job is to hold the pieces and say, “You are not too much. I have room for all of you and can handle your whole story.”
It is completely normal to be nervous, especially when people you should have been able to trust hurt you.
Therapy is about you getting better.
I will guide and direct the first few sessions with simplicity and directness, so all you need do is show up.
We go at a pace that allows you to learn to trust and soften so that you can experience therapy as the safe, comforting place it is designed to be rather than something to dread!
It might not be as bad as the anxiety is telling you, so come in and try the experience for yourself.
About Me
My own trauma led me to train to help you.
My own early childhood story of addiction, abuse, and the mental load that accompanies that led me toward a path of visual art and storytelling as a way of processing my own shadows.
I first experienced therapy as a young teen. That experience was terrible.
I walked out 15 minutes in and spent the next decade doing my best to navigate trauma, difficult family dynamics, and major life decisions with whatever tools I could scrape together from the world around me. Some worked, some epically failed.
In my early adulthood, the effects of trauma had a tight grip on me, and I was next to hopeless in ever finding relief from the anxiety, nightmares, relationship, and intimacy issues that never went away.
And then I met my therapist. She offered me the comfort, guidance, and grit that I needed to thrive in difficult circumstances and heal from years of abuse and trauma.
I was able to build a thriving life from near scratch; to have healthy, nourishing relationships; and learned to love myself in a deep and tender way.
I am committed and passionate about helping people find hope and healing in their lives.
Through my healing, I recognized that I had a gift for being with people in their darkest night and offering those same gifts of comfort, guidance, and grit that were given to me years ago.
These gifts are transposable to the individual, the couple, or the system.
My mission as a therapist is to continuously gift those qualities to every person that enters my office. I want to work with you to create the life you want and seek relationships that fill you with light.
I have 15+ years of experience working with people who have trauma and relationship problems.
This experience includes offering trainings in communication and personal resource development everywhere from community mental health organizations to small, creative businesses.
Outside of therapy, my interests are diverse.
I spend my free time exploring the outdoors with my daughter and dog (sometimes the cat); nurturing friendships; learning everything I can about plants, creating art, eating good food, working out; and developing educational and empowerment workshops around non-violent communication, sexuality, and social advocacy.