Practice Areas
Mood
You may find yourself spending much or most of your time in a negative mood state, like feeling depressed, numb, irritable, or burned out. You may have tried “waiting out” these feelings, analyzing your way out of them, or even tough-loving yourself into “snapping out if it.”
In my experience, treating a mood problem requires a cognitive, emotional and, most critically, a behavioral approach. If this feeling has been chronic, or keeps popping up and going away over the years, we may consider looking more deeply into your early-life experiences to heal at the foundational level.
Anxiety
Sometimes, our brains do too good a job of “protecting” us from danger. Clinical anxiety, and the many forms it takes, highjacks of our inborn desire to avoid pain and control outcomes. We can get caught in worry loops, obsessions and compulsions, fixation on others’ evaluations of us, full body panic attacks seemingly “out of the blue,” and stubborn phobias.
The good news is that anxiety struggles tend to be very responsive to behavior-based treatments in the context of a trusting and warm therapeutic relationship.
Trauma
Trauma is an experience that caused or could have caused serious injury or death, violated bodily autonomy, and prompted a sense of helplessness. Our bodies, brains, and worldview can be changed by such an experience. I provide trauma-focused treatment for adult trauma and trauma survived in childhood. If you are struggling in the wake of an accident, assault, combat/first-responding event, abusive relationship, or other traumatic experience, I can offer effective treatments.
You may already know your work lies in recovering from a challenging, or traumatic, childhood or early caregiver relationship. During our early life, we get “blueprints” to understand who we are and “need” to be, what to expect from others, and ideas about interpersonal trust and intimacy. Experiences with childhood abuse, physical neglect, or emotional neglect in the early foundation can lurk and interfere in your ability to create a robust quality of life now as an adult. Let’s work on it.
Existential Concerns
Not very long ago, our ancestors lived in small communities and worked with nature to meet the needs of the group. Today, we retain the same psychological equipment but exist within a radically different environment. This whiplash—coupled with near limitless access to ominous information, e.g. global human suffering, climate science, and systems dysfunction/breakdown—can leave some of us feeling overwhelmed, lost, or alienated.
We are driven to make meaning of our individual existence and contextualize it within our broader worldview. From this understanding, we can develop purpose, define our personal creed, and embrace our sphere of influence. When you’re doing this work, it can be helpful to have a copilot outside your social circle who is non-judgmental, curious, empathetic, and invested in you getting the clarity you need in your own way.
Couples Therapy
I love working with couples who are committed to each other and both motivated for change. Despite “wanting it to work,” you find yourselves having the same arguments and the same painful feelings.
Together, we will understand how each of your histories and coping styles impact the relationship and feed off each other in times of distress. We will understand your relationship’s unique patterns and find ways to intervene, when needed. We will work toward a relationship dynamic characterized by empathy, acceptance, and mutual effort.
Evidence-Based Practice
I am skilled in a number of evidence-based treatments, or protocols. These are treatment approaches that are targeted to a specific symptom set and have demonstrated efficacy in research trials. After a thorough assessment and time to build rapport, we will make a mutual commitment to work toward a shared goal. We may, or may not, choose to work with one, or more, of the following treatment modalities:
Behavioral Activation for Depression
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for mood/anxiety/insomnia
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for mood/anxiety/trauma
Interoceptive Exposure for Panic Disorder
Exposure and Response Prevention for OCD and Specific Phobia
Prolonged Exposure for trauma
Written Exposure Therapy for trauma
STAIR/NST for adult survivors of childhood abuse
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (Skills only)
Schema Focused Therapy
Integrative Behavioral Couple’s Therapy