I specialize in addressing the various ways trauma can impact a woman’s mental health during preconception, pregnancy, and the postpartum period.
I would be honored to walk alongside you in your healing journey so you can find a renewed sense of identity as a mom and offer the best of yourself to your current and future children.
You have a history of trauma that is now impacting your sense of self as a parent (such as abuse, neglect, and other traumas in childhood/adolescence)
Your trauma occurred as part of your journey to becoming a parent (such as fertility challenges, pregnancy or infant loss, TMFR, and traumatic birth experiences)
You experienced something traumatic after your child was born that has shaken your confidence as a parent.... (such as NICU or PICU stays, serious illness or injury, or a global pandemic)
Whether...
You can feel better. Healing is possible.
With the right kind of help, you can feel more like yourself, gain confidence to take on the challenges of motherhood, and be able to truly enjoy parenting (most of the time).
How I Can Help
I specialize in treating trauma that occurs or resurfaces during the perinatal period, but I also work with women experiencing a variety of other challenges during the journey to and through motherhood.
Common experiences I work with include:
• Prenatal or Postpartum Anxiety or OCD
• Prenatal or Postpartum Depression
• High Risk Pregnancy
• Anxiety about Labor/Delivery
• NICU/PICU Stays
• Infertility
• Insomnia
• Balancing Motherhood and Work
• Setting Boundaries with Family • Pregnancy/Infant Loss
• TFMR
• Birth Trauma
• Childhood Abuse/Neglect
• Sexual Assault/Rape
• Accidents/Single-Incident Traumas
• Body Image Negativity
• Identity Transformation
• Conflict with Partner
“Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you doesn’t mean you can, should, or need to do it alone.” – Lisa Olivera
I'm a naturally intuitive and empathetic person, so part of who I am as a therapist is genuinely enjoying listening to people talk about their lives. My main goal is to create a safe space for you to explore your feelings - snarkiness, self-deprecating humor, cursing, etc. is all welcome and accepted. Over time, I'll help you make sense of your experiences and start to see and understand yourself with more compassion.
I'm also a neuroscience nerd, so another part of who I am as a therapist is helping you understand how your brain works and the how and why of what we’re doing in therapy. We'll talk about subpersonalities, neuroplasticity, memory networks, and more...but don't worry: I have an extensive library of articles, videos, and memes to help explain things.
The most important part of who I am as a therapist is believing that therapy isn't just where you learn how to “deal with” mental health problems, but that for those who are ready, therapy can provide real healing. Using IFS-Informed EMDR, I help clients “reconsolidate” trauma memories, allowing you to experience transformational and lasting change.
Who I Am As A Therapist
Learn About My Approach
WHO I AM AS A THERAPIST
My Approach
I’m the expert in the neuroscience stuff and the psychotherapy techniques, but you are the expert on you. So I’m not going to tell you what you need to work on or how to live your life, but I will help you figure that out. As far as reaching your goals, I will be there to guide you and support you, but ultimately you have to be ready and willing to put in the work.
2. Strengths-based:
Whatever problems you’re having, you have strengths too and I won’t let you ignore them - I will help you use them throughout this process of healing and growth.
3. Solution-focused:
I believe that the solution to your problems isn’t more “coping strategies” - that’s like attacking a garden overgrown with weeds with a weedwacker. Will they help you feel better? Sure. Will you have to keep using those tools over and over? Yep. So let’s pull that sh*t out at the root.
My Approach
WHO I AM AS A THERAPIST
My Approach
Are you ready to feel like a renewed momma?
If you’re ready, then I am confident that together we can heal the root of your current struggles. Using IFS-Informed EMDR, I will help you to rewire the parts of your brain that are stuck - “overwriting” any negative emotional learnings and “reconsolidating” trauma memories - allowing you to experience transformational and lasting change.
What is IFS-Informed EMDR?
Both EMDR and IFS are therapies that are evidence-based practices for treating trauma. IFS-Informed EMDR integrates the two, respectfully and efficiently changing the underlying negative core beliefs that are causing emotional and relational problems.
Neuroscience Nerd Explanation
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. IFS stands for Internal Family Systems.
EMDR and IFS can be used independently and involve different techniques for memory reconsolidation. IFS-Informed EMDR integrates the two: it uses the standard EMDR treatment protocol for reprocessing memories by desensitizing the old experience and installing new, positive perspectives, and incorporates the IFS perspective of the multiplicity of the individual psyche to maximize Self-energy and collaborate with our natural psychological defenses rather than trying to push past them. In my experience, this combination creates the most efficient process and is especially effective when working with developmental trauma and attachment injuries.
What is IFS-Informed EMDR?
Before scheduling an initial appointment with a new client, I always have a free consultation call first. Done over the phone or Zoom, this call helps me learn a little bit about what is bringing you to therapy and answer any questions you have so that we can make sure I’m a good fit for what you’re looking for! Then if you decide to move forward, we’ll schedule our session and I’ll send you the paperwork you’ll need to fill out and electronically sign beforehand.
Free Consultation Call
An initial therapy appointment is known as an “intake session.” I will have you complete a few brief questionnaires before the session, and then when we meet I’ll ask you a lot of open-ended questions to better understand your current concerns and a wide variety of factors that may be contributing to or impacted by your current situation. I’ll also ask you about your goals and we’ll start talking about how we can accomplish those together. Note: if one of your goals is healing from past traumas, I’ll ask some surface level questions to get a general idea of what you want to work on, but we definitely won’t do a deep dive into any of that during the initial session.
Assessment
For the first few sessions, we focus on improving day-to-day functioning by developing coping strategies to manage any symptoms of depression, anxiety, or PTSD. In this phase I use techniques from CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) Resourcing.
Stabilization
As things begin to feel more manageable, we transition to identifying and working to heal the root cause(s) of your mental health challenges. Most unwanted behaviors, thoughts, emotions, and psychosomatic symptoms are driven by underlying (and sometimes unconscious) emotional learnings that define the way we view ourselves, others, and the world in general. Emotional learnings often first develop in childhood but can grow stronger when we experience traumatic events later in life. These negative emotional learnings can be transformed through memory reconsolidation, which I help my clients accomplish through IFS-Informed EMDR.
Reprocessing
PAYMENTS & INSURANCE
I accept payment from Health Savings/Flexible Spending Accounts
and all major credit/debit cards.
If you have another insurance, you may be able to get reimbursed a portion of your session costs if you have Out-of-Network benefits. I will provide a monthly Superbill for you to submit to your insurance. Learn more about OON benefits work here.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Nope! While I do work primarily with moms or women who are preparing for parenthood or trying to conceive, I work with all adult women seeking healing and personal growth.
I offer virtual (video) sessions for clients residing anywhere in the states of Colorado or Georgia. For clients in Denver, CO, clients also have the option of scheduling sessions in their home or having “stroller sessions” in their neighborhood or at a nearby park (the momma version of “walk and talk” therapy).
I am interested in therapy services but also have concerns about my baby or child’s sleep - can you help me with that too?
Definitely! If we’re working together in therapy and your child’s sleep is impacting your mental health, then it absolutely makes sense for that to be something we work on! Not only would we explore and process your thoughts and feelings about your/your child’s lack of sleep or struggle to develop a good routine or schedule - just like you would with any other therapist - we’ll also draw on my expertise as a sleep consultant to collaborate on a specific plan to help your child sleep better for both nights and naps.
If you’ve read about my sleep consulting services, you wouldn’t need to purchase one of my programs. We would simply discuss your concerns about your child’s sleep and your goals for sleep training, and then create a plan together for sleep training and how to support your mental health throughout that process - all during our therapy sessions. If needed, and if my schedule allows, we can also schedule multiple sessions in a week for a few weeks in order to help you make progress more quickly. I would still provide you with any guides/PDFs I’ve created that are relevant to your situation, and you would be able to email or text me between sessions with quick questions like all my therapy clients. The other key differences between working on sleep issues in therapy rather than as part of a sleep consulting program is that you would not have access to voice/message support via Voxer (it is not a HIPAA-compliant method of communication) or to the Facebook group for follow-up support (this form of social media engagement violates my code of ethics as a therapist).
I have a limited number of spots for reduced fees. These are available to those who qualify with proof of income and are based on a family household income sliding scale. To apply for a sliding fee, you must submit a financial information form along with proof of income prior to your initial appointment.
No, I am not a medical doctor. However, I am able to help get you connected to a prescriber, help you prepare for your initial and subsequent appointments in terms of important information to share and what questions to ask, and I can offer guidance on what to expect with various types of medications.
For clients using insurance benefits, sessions are scheduled for a “clinical hour,” which is 50 minutes. For private pay clients, you can choose to meet for either 50, 80, or 100 minutes. I strongly encourage my clients to commit to scheduling weekly sessions for at least the first few sessions in order for us to get to know each other, build trust, and get some momentum. After that, we can discuss if you would prefer to continue meeting weekly or biweekly. I expect clients to attend either weekly or biweekly for the duration of treatment or until we have mutually agreed to step down to a maintenance schedule.
It’s hard to say. Some women may just need help navigating a specific transition or situation, or only need to process a single-incident trauma such as a traumatic birth, and this can usually be accomplished over just a few months. Most of the women I work with are working through a variety of concerns and have multiple past experiences that need to be processed and healed. It’s not at all uncommon for me to work with a client for 1-2 years and I have a few that I’ve been seeing for over 5 years. It’s also very common for clients to have seen satisfactory progress after a certain amount of time but choose to continue coming on a less frequent schedule so as to maintain that progress and address new issues as they arise. So it really depends on your goals and ultimately it’s up to you - you can continue with therapy for however short or long a time feels right and is of benefit to you.
Contact
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