My Approach
Talk Therapy
At its best, the mental health field demystifies the underlying patterns of our experience and behavior and provides tools for change. I specialize in helping clients heal from complex trauma.
The term complex trauma refers to prolonged exposure to traumatic conditions over time. A common source of complex trauma is unhealthy relationship patterns in our families of origin or adult relationships. It may have looked like physical, sexual or verbal abuse, but it also may have looked like neglect, such as one or more family member's needs being prioritized over others’, or one or more family member's experience being consistently dismissed, invalidated or ignored.
This kind of environment often affects our sense of self in ways we don’t fully understand, but shows up as mental health symptoms that need our attention. The theories that influence my work, like psychodynamic theory, attachment theory, and polyvagal theory are informed by neurobiology. They help us make sense of how these prior experiences continue to affect us mentally, physically and emotionally, and offer us a way forward.
Somatics
I use body-based approaches to help clients reconnect with a felt sense of trust and safety. While the mental health field is great at identifying problems, healing isn't just the absence of pain or distress, it's the presence of something new and different. It’s the difference between acquiring new knowledge and feeling it in our bones. True healing is an integrative process, transforming both our mental and physical experience of ourselves.
When we repair our relationship with ourselves and our bodies, we feel deeply connected to the world around us. We may experience this shift in perspective as both grounded and transcendent. Healing can mean reclaiming our own version of spirituality, on our own terms, if we so choose. It can be as simple as finally finding the peace we’ve been seeking.
Social Change
Without social context and critical analysis, therapy and somatics run the risk of perpetuating existing systems of harm. Refusing to pathologize ourselves and naming injustice, whether it’s structural or interpersonal, is also part of healing. We are never alone in what we’re going through, and we can take comfort in knowing that breaking unhealthy patterns helps us heal as a community and a society. We can also find pride in our gifts and strengths that have gone unacknowledged and unrecognized.