Change your mind
“It takes a lifetime to find a life like the life you had in mind”
Individual Therapy
Beginning therapy is a personal choice and one that I honor for each individual that comes into this space. It’s hard to know who is the right fit for you, what you’re looking for, and how to navigate establishing a therapeutic relationship. You’re not alone. This likely isn’t the first therapy site that you’ve visited and you might be feeling a lot of stuff as you try to manage what you’re experiencing while you find a provider. In my own way, I’m familiar with what that may be like and I want you to know what it’s like to work with me so that you can make the best choice for you.
My approach to individual therapy might be different from past therapy you’ve experienced. If you’re new to therapy, welcome! As we begin our partnership, the first several sessions allow for exploration and clarity of your goals and needs, orientation to the space, our work, and to one another, and establishing a flow of conversation, feeling, expression, and comfort. We develop mutual language for noticing and naming thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations as well as core beliefs and fears, emotions, meanings, and psychoeducation. All of this begins to illustrate your present lived experience and enriches our connection to deeper work.
We partner on developing resources, strategies and methods to help you with emotional regulation, coping, and soothing in and out of session. This also strengthens your relationship to Self allowing for access to underlying content and material to come available. I move at the pace of your nervous system, I attune to what the body is communicating, and I hold space for your felt sense to emerge. We move as fast as the slowest part of the nervous system. I believe your body knows how to heal itself and you are the expert of your life. You may discover that what you hoped to change with therapy remains the same and what you hoped would stay the same changes.
Over time, we partner to reflect on major shifts in perspective. Recognizing and reinforcing your progress as well as noticing a richer emotional capacity, increased resilience, and a bolder sense of meaning and hope in your life. With this integration, you may find yourself defining new directions in therapy and in your life.
As a cohesive narrative arc arises with your life story into your present life and through your therapeutic care, you may also find a desire to shift into a maintenance period with less frequent sessions or choose to say meaningful goodbyes as you move forward with your life imagining a previously unfathomable future.
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A healing and trusting relationship with your therapist that provides space for self-exploration, development of reality, and validation of lived experience.
A partnership for defining your goals and getting clear on action steps to achieve them.
A fully present mental health professional who cares for you.
A safe, non-shaming, inclusive space in a private, professional setting.
Gentle self-discovery, understanding, clarity, and connection.
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An open mind and willingness to learn about yourself, your relationships, and your behaviors.
A readiness for change and accountability for yourself.
Active participation in honest conversation and expression of your lived experience.
Effort outside of scheduled sessions to engage in self-awareness and mindfulness practices.
Self-compassion to explore unfamiliar emotions, discomfort, and harmful patterns of behavior.
Commitment to the therapeutic partnership and trust in the process.
To honor and abide by agency policies and payment for services. This includes sharing any complaints, issues, concerns, or questions up-front as soon as they arise.
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To take a gentle approach as we uncover areas of personal pain and suffering.
To ask uncomfortable questions at times. I would rather ask and possibly offend you than never ask and possibly never allow space for you live in your true authentic self.
I will tell you the truth.
I will honor your boundaries.
To sit with you through hard moments, hold space for big emotions, accept you for who you are, and celebrate your uniqueness.
To be committed to continued learning and professional evolution in therapeutic practice. This includes techniques and modalities, areas of interest, and theoretical frameworks to enrich our work.
To stay aligned within my field of knowledge and redirect you for areas that are not within my scope.
Scheduling and Consistency
Your first session is a 90-minute appointment during which we review your pre-submitted intake paperwork, discuss your goals and needs, and talk about the structure of our work together. All consecutive sessions, you have the option of 50 or 80-minute appointments.
It is strongly encouraged that you plan for weekly or bi-weekly sessions. Weekly sessions are recommended for the first three to six months to establish a foundation of care, cohesion, and development of resources to begin shifting in your life. I offer routine scheduling options for consistency and ease of planning.
For use of EMDR and while completing the developmental assessment, 80-minute sessions are strongly recommended.
