Message from the Therapist:

"The type of client I feel most comfortable with deals with anxiety, depression, substance use disorders, or any type of trauma. The needs I am most comfortable meeting are gaining insight and understanding of the origins of what they deal with and collaboratively finding successful and effective ways of continuing to cope and reduce the unwanted impacts of the issues. I'm most passionate about working with people who are curious about themselves and want to know themselves better or are on a journey of self-discovery. I find that most of the time, we have our own solutions and we actually provide ourselves with the best advice that we too often wait for someone else to give us. I've also found that the best way to access that insight from ourselves is getting really comfortable and curious with ourselves. I find that most of the time we don't actually want someone to solve our problems for us, and that more often than not what we actually want is for someone to sit with us and hold our hand while we find our own solutions. Brené Brown says people don't reach out for help to learn how to behave better, people reach out  "because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them".

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I've spent much of my career working in residential treatment settings that often prescribe one-size-fits-all solutions that rarely fit all. In my time and through my experience I've learned to see the value in tradition and established ways of doing things while still staying curious and picking up the new things that surprise us along the way. For the past 6 years I've worked in the substance abuse treatment field which is largely facilitated through the 12-step approach. I've worked with clients that love the steps, and I've worked with clients that hate the steps. In all those years the people I saw succeed the most weren't the people that latched on to an established way of doing things. The people I saw succeed and heal the most were the people who were able to get on good terms with themselves and build a patient, compassionate, and caring relationship with themselves. In other words, the people who were the most curious to know themselves and then do the work of leaning into being more in tune with themselves were the people I saw learn, grow, and heal the most.

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There are many things in life that are hard, and the only thing harder than dealing with the difficulties that life hands us is doing it alone. Even reaching out for a hand in the dark can be difficult. Whether or not you decide to work with me, I acknowledge that the fact you reading this probably means you're considering reaching out to someone, even if not me. I think that is incredibly brave, difficult, and worthy of praise. I think a lot of people misunderstand bravery and they think it's not being afraid of something. To me bravery is being afraid and taking action despite being afraid. I'm honored that this bravery and perseverance has brought you to these words, and I would be greatly honored to share space with that kind of bravery and perseverance. J.R.R. Tolkien said "The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater." There may be ugliness and pain in the world, but I believe that we are capable of shaping a life for ourselves in which love grows the greater."