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Anxiety that can be quite debilitating and that persists despite your daily efforts to manage it?
Depression that drags you down and prevents you from enjoying your life fully?
The impact of unresolved trauma making it difficult for you to respond to events in your life successfully?
Feeling capable of moving through life transitions in a way that feels effective?
Relating to others in a way that feels healthy and fulfilling to you?
Understanding and accepting your sexual orientation and identity?
My mission is to provide high quality mental health services to emerging adults through treating anxiety, depression, trauma, sexual identity concerns, and relational difficulties. I empower my clients to learn to be more accepting of themselves and learn new ways of coping with distress.
Are you struggling to let go of outdated coping strategies that aren’t serving you anymore?
Outdated coping strategies may include substance use, disordered eating patterns, numbing behaviors such as scrolling on your phone or binge watching tv shows, perfectionism, people pleasing, trying to control others and your external environment, and avoiding uncomfortable emotions or situations.
From a Gestalt lens, we describe these as “creative adjustments.”
Rather than viewing your coping strategies as maladaptive, we understand them to be useful and to have been necessary at times in the past to cope with a challenging environment. The therapeutic relationship allows you to evaluate your experience currently utilizing these strategies and to determine which of them may still be serving you and which ones now feel outdated or may be getting in the way of your growth or your goals for yourself.
Experience fewer symptoms of increased self-confidence, increased self-awareness and self-knowledge, greater ability to be present, increased agency, more satisfying interpersonal relationships, and using fewer outdated coping strategies such as substance use or disordered eating?
Numb
Full of Feeling
Distracted
Present
Isolated
Connected
Hidden
Seen
Restricted
Responsive + Open
Shameful
Accepted
Gestalt Therapy creates a space for people to learn to be present with their full emotional experience, heal from past trauma and develop healthier ways of being in the world.
Through my Gestalt-influenced approach, my clients experience fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety and gain confidence in themselves. They are more able to be present and experience their lives as expansive while relying less on outdated coping strategies.
While I work with a variety of presenting concerns, I have extensive experience in helping people who have suffered from childhood abuse or neglect, and those whose anxiety has not responded well to previous forms of treatment.
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
― Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy
So often, when people enter therapy, their goals seem simple. They want to be “happy” or they want their anxiety to “go away.”
I believe there is so much more to be discovered and gained from the therapeutic process. I believe in the wisdom of emotion. The symptoms of depression and anxiety that you are experiencing are actually signals. And if we follow the signals and learn what they are trying to tell you, we can discover so many more possibilities for you. It is a gentle, individualized, go at your own pace type of therapy.
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Through years of working in college counseling centers and focusing on young adults in my private practice, I have a unique understanding of the challenges of this stage of life.
I have experience working with all gender identities and racial backgrounds. I strive to honor your unique experience and I work to hold space to help you understand how your specific set of life experiences has informed your way of being in the world. I take a humble approach to working with those from backgrounds different from my own and seek to create a space for us to acknowledge how our varied backgrounds may interact in the therapy space.
You may have had experience with therapy in the past or have some level of awareness or insight into your emotions.
You may be suffering from anxiety, depression, trauma, and are possibly also a survivor of childhood abuse or neglect.
You think of yourself as introspective and are interested in doing some longer term therapy to really resolve issues and heal from past events and are curious about trying something a little different from past approaches you may have tried.
You may be at least beginning to realize that there probably aren’t any quick fixes for your problems and you are beginning to see the value of trying something new and embarking on a journey of self-discovery.
I graduated from Northwestern University in 2007 with an MA in Counseling Psychology and I started my career working in college counseling centers.
I have developed a passion for working with young adults over the past 15 years I have been in practice. Emerging adulthood is such an important time in a person’s life. You are discovering your identity, separating from family and beginning to develop your own path in life. I find it an honor to be on this journey with my clients, supporting them through such an integral phase of life.
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Online therapy is a method of therapy that allows you to receive support from the comfort of your own home or office. There’s no need to commute to my office and you can hop onto a therapy session in the middle of your day.
I have found it to be as effective as in-person therapy and it provides greater flexibility, allowing therapy to be more accessible to more people. All you need is a solid Wi-Fi connection and a private space to participate in the session.
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I’ve had clients express gratitude for the support that they’ve received from me to help them break lifelong family relational patterns and develop new, more sustainable and gratifying ways of relating to others in their lives.
Clients have conveyed a
sense of relief at finally understanding the source of their anxiety, which has plagued them for years. They have learned new ways of understanding and managing their anxiety, leading to symptom relief.
My clients have shown appreciation for the supportive environment of the therapeutic relationship with me and how it helped them finally acknowledge and heal from emotional abuse that they’ve experienced by a parent.
I’ve had clients make the decision to move away from using substances to manage painful emotions in order to experience their lives and emotions more fully and to experience the joy of really being present in their lives.
I’ve had clients heal from long term depression through the processing of painful past events, through learning to tolerate uncomfortable emotions and through creating more meaningful social interactions which allow them to feel connected and valued.
Yes, I am currently an in-network provider with both Aetna and Pacific Source.
My fees are $205 for the initial intake and $195 per 55-minute session. If you would like to use your out-of-network benefits, I will bill your insurance company on your behalf and your insurance company will reimburse you for a portion of the fee.
Gestalt therapy is a long-term process so it does take time to heal. However, most clients report noticing increased awareness and small changes within a few months of working together.
I provide weekly therapy meaning we will pick a time that works for both of us and we will meet weekly at that same time. I typically see clients for more than a year as it takes time to address long term behavior patterns and heal from past events.
Unfortunately, I only provide weekly therapy as I believe weekly therapy is a level of therapy that people find therapeutic.
I am currently accepting new clients at the moment. If you'd like to explore if we'd be a good fit together I invite you to book a 15-minute initial consultation with me here.
A phone consultation is a great way for us to determine whether we think working together would be a good fit.
We will briefly discuss what is bringing you into therapy, how I might approach working with you, insurance, fees and scheduling.
It’s also a chance for you to ask me any specific questions that you have about me or my approach.