How i do therapy:
Perhaps you’re noticing unhealthy patterns in your relationships, at work, or with family.
Maybe you’ve been struggling recently, or for a long time.
Maybe something big is changing in your life, and you’re having trouble adjusting.
Maybe you’re just finally ready to try something different.
Whatever your reasons for coming to therapy, I will meet all parts of you with respect and non-judgment.
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client-centered and collaborative
I see therapy as a journey we are on together. I meet clients where they’re at, and help them trust their own needs and experience. I’m direct in my interventions, but I also recognize the power in the therapist’s role and strive to hold it gently and mindfully. You are the expert on you.
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experiential AND SOMATIC
Therapy has a reputation of being very cognitive; you come to therapy to generate new thoughts and new ideas, to get advice. But that approach to therapy leaves out an important and powerful part of ourselves; the part that feels. Most people come to therapy because we want to feel different in life. But if we want to change the way we feel, we have to connect to the parts of us that feel in the first place.
I guide clients through stopping and noticing feelings as they experience them, in the moment. Getting outside the narrative and attending directly to our felt experience in this way helps us learn from and transform it; creating new neurological connections in the brain which can move us toward healing and experiencing life differently, from the bottom up.
One important way to do this is through our bodies. The mind and body are inseparable; thoughts, emotions, body functions, sensations, movements, nerves, and biochemicals are all interconnected.
Often we notice emotions first by the way they make our bodies feel. But your body is not just a barometer of our mental health. It is also a tool we can use to feel better. Somatic therapy uses body awareness, movement, and other techniques to calm your nervous system, work with dissociation, process grief and traumatic experiences, deal with chronic pain, increase self care, improve communication with others, set boundaries, and handle challenging situations more effectively.
I love working somatically. It is both powerful and gentle, a tool that clients can start using right away to change how they experience their lives.
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social justice oriented
My therapy practice is informed by the values of social justice and anti-oppression activism. These are not just abstract political concepts to me; they deeply influence who I am and how I see the world. My own experiences with marginalization have taught me how important it is to approach my clients with honesty, non-judgment, and cultural humility. I engage in ongoing training to increase my competence with a diversity of clients and cultures.
My own identities are: white, Jewish, queer, trans/non-binary, and a member of the fat-liberation and disability-justice communities.
examples of ISSUES I CAN HELP WITH:
depression
anxiety
trauma/complex trauma and PTSD
substance use
loneliness/isolation
family
relationship issues
gender
sex and sexuality
polyamory
kink and BSDM
other systemic identity issues (racism, sexism, ableism, classism)
trouble maintaining relationships
difficulties with school or work
grief and loss
chronic illness & disability
body image
sexual assault and consent issues