Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LH 61156149)
MA Psychology, Seattle University, Existential-Phenomenological program
4+ years working in intensive eating disorder treatment with all ED diagnoses and many different presentations (adults and adolescents & families)
1 year working in youth and family counseling and 5 years prior experience teaching with ages 10-18
4 years in a Gestalt therapy training program (ongoing), including intensive 80 hour summer residential training
Various trainings in RO-DBT, CBT, DBT, trauma, Health at Every Size, nutrition and gut health related to psychological patterns, somatic therapy, Focusing, and art therapy, body liberation and social justice issues in the therapy space
I show up in the therapy room authentically, compassionately and with a deep commitment to understanding your lived experience. To me, therapy is a way to restore presence, vitality and connection to ourselves. Our relationship is the most important part of our work, and I enter each relationship with openness, playfulness and curiosity. As we work together, I hope that you are able to reach parts of yourself that you may have pushed aside or down to survive in this world and in your life. I hope that we can sit with the messiness of your emotional experiences and delve into the depths of meaning that your life has held for you thus far. I hope that sitting with this enables you to uncover more about who you are, what has formed you, what you believe, and the possibilities for growth available to you.
My practice is informed by gestalt, humanistic, relational, depth psychological and client-centered approaches. I also have many tools at my disposal to incorporate into our meetings, including evidence-based exercises informed by CBT and DBT skills and experiential prompts that tap into our human potential for creativity, play, and intuitive knowing. My intention is to help build awareness of your patterns, rhythms, core beliefs and emotional experiences in order to support your innate capacity for growth and resilience. My hope for all of us is that we can learn to feel deeply, be in fulfilling relationships with others, and move through the richness of our worlds with authenticity and an unshakable trust in our intuition.
Given my identities, I acknowledge that there are limitations to my perspective that may affect who I work well with. If you are a BIPOC , LGBTQIA+, neuro-diverse, disabled or otherwise marginalized human who is looking for specific support, I am invested in your safety and vitality and will be happy to direct you elsewhere if needed. If you choose to work with me, know that I am committed to understanding my own biases and challenging them in the therapy space and outside of it. I am engaged in ongoing anti-racist consultation and training, and I have also worked with people of differing races, cultural backgrounds, gender identities and sexual orientations. If you would like to work with me, I will commit to bringing openness and curiosity to our relationship and to acknowledging the privilege dynamics in the room as they come up with you.