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)
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).
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.
• 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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