I believe that the quality of a therapeutic relationship is the strongest predictor of therapeutic success. The therapeutic relationship, and especially what unfolds within it, offers powerful transformative potential. My goal is to use my therapeutic skill set to create a bond of trust, support, and respect as we work towards your therapeutic goals. My hope is that my attunement, presence, and support is one of the great catalysts in helping you heal.

As individuals, we experience a myriad of stressful and traumatic events. Oftentimes these events are so overwhelming that our system is unable to properly process what occurred. When this happens, the memory of events gets stored in our bodies in the form of emotions, somatic sensations, and negative beliefs about ourselves and our outside world. Traditional talk therapy may not be enough. However, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing are powerful therapeutic approaches that help you finish processing in a safe and supportive space. When traumatic memories are not properly processed, they can become maladaptively stored in the brain and easily triggered later in life, creating a host of symptoms.

The vagus nerve is the longest and most complex of the cranial nerves. It allows our brain to communicate to the tissues and organs in our body. When we endure an extended amount of stress or trauma, our vagus nerve becomes hyperactive. While we have been taught that stress and trauma are emotions the real issue is that these experiences are stored in our body. When the vagus nerve is activated, it can impact numerous systems in our body like our hearts, our blood pressure, and our GI track. We may experience nausea, tunnel vision, ringing in the ears, tension in our body. When the mind suffers, the body suffers too. All of this comes back to the vagus nerve. In working with me, one of my goals is to educate you on your nervous system (NS) and the vagus nerve and equip you with techniques that help you better understand this phenomena through Polyvagal Theory.

I love the intersection between emotional and mental well being and our brain. I believe that understanding key aspects of the brain’s functionality helps build a foundation of compassion during the therapeutic process. Fundamental parts of the brain, specifically the frontal lobe, do not finish developing until age 25 and when we are emotionally activated the amygdala lights up like a fire alarm, sending thousands of psychophysiological responses into our body telling us to mobilize.

I believe that our earliest relationships with our primary caregivers profoundly impact how we see ourselves, our outside world, and what we know about love, security, and relationships. Relational trauma, such as emotional/physical neglect, abuse, or chronic invalidation, shapes how our brain operates and how we come to anticipate similar experiences later in life. As a psychotherapist, my goal is to support the reparative process through the therapeutic relationship.