APPROACH

Maybe you feel stuck, trapped, or overwhelmed by how you’ve lived your life so far. My approach blends evidence-based cognitive and somatic practices so you can see how your nervous system shapes your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. As you explore this page, notice what resonates with you.

Somatic Embodiment

When life feels overwhelming, sometimes thinking alone isn’t enough to find relief. Our bodies often carry the weight of past experiences long after our minds have processed them. I incorporate somatic approaches, such as Sensory Motor Psychotherapy and Somatic Processing, with the understanding that your body holds essential memories and messages to keep you safe from the trauma you’ve already experienced. Trauma being stored in the body is a biological process not unlike how white blood cells remember past infections—both are the body's way of holding onto what hurt us to protect us in the future. Together, we’ll gently explore what your body is communicating through breath, movement, and sensation. This isn’t just about understanding logically—it’s about feeling your healing on a deeper level. Your body has a story to tell, and I’m here to listen alongside you. This work supports emotional healing and deepens the insight you gain through mindfulness and internal parts work.

Mindfulness

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is recognize when and how we can let go and be present. Mindfulness practice offers a way to slow down and notice what’s happening inside, without judgment. In our work together, we’ll practice bringing gentle attention to your thoughts, emotions, and body—building your capacity to pause, to breathe, and to relate to yourself with more care. Clinically, mindfulness interventions are shown to support a wide range of mental health outcomes like enhanced emotional regulation, and reduced anxiety and depression symptoms. It works in conjunction with somatic exploration to deepen our understanding of the nervous system and how it is encoded. It helps you develop a steadier relationship with your inner world, enabling you to meet your challenges with curiosity and compassion.

Social Justice Lens

I practice from a social justice lens, understanding that our well-being is shaped by the systems and environments we navigate every day. This approach, increasingly recognized as the fifth wave of psychology, draws on frameworks like ecological systems theory, intersectionality, relational-cultural theory, and liberation psychology. Whether you’re exploring your identity or working through the impact of injustice, we’ll make space for those experiences together. This work isn’t about blame—it’s about healing in context, with compassion, clarity, and a deep respect for your journey.

You might notice different parts of you pulling in opposite directions one trying to hold it all together, another just wanting to rest, another feeling stuck in fear, shame or judgment. This is more common than you think. I use an approach called Parts Work, including Internal Family Systems (IFS), to help you get to know these inner voices—not as problems to fix, but as parts of you that have been shaped by what you've been through. When we meet these parts with curiosity and care, something begins to soften. This work naturally relates to somatic and attachment-based practices, helping you connect emotions in the body,and in relationships. Over time, this creates space for more clarity, self-compassion, and choice.

Attachment-Theory

The ways we show up in relationships, even with ourselves, are often a function of connections.
You may notice patterns that feel confusing, such as pulling away when things get too close, feeling anxious about being left behind, or constantly taking care of others while neglecting your own needs. Through an attachment lens, we’ll explore how you learned to get your needs met, what love and safety did and didn’t look like, and how those early experiences shape how you protect and connect now. This kind of work helps deepen self-understanding, strengthen inner security, and foster more grounded, fulfilling relationships.

Harm-Reduction Counseling

A unique aspect of my approach is grounded in my social work background and built on non-judgmental, client-centered care, with the understanding that you are the expert on your own life. Most graduate counseling programs don’t offer training in this orientation, which views wellness as a spectrum, or something that is fluid and evolving. In our work together, we’ll honor where you are on that spectrum and move forward in a way that respects your values and your unique process.

This approach is particularly supportive for individuals with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and is one of the few that is not an abstinence-based model, although it can support people with those goals. It aligns well with the rest of my practice, especially parts work, mindfulness, and attachment-based care, meeting you where you are and supporting sustainable, self-directed growth.