Method matters.

 

WHAT TO EXPECT:

  1. I start with a complimentary 15-minute phone consultation (please fill out a therapy interest form)

  2. If we both decide that we’d like to move forward, we will discuss the logistics of working with me and schedule an intake assessment. If it turns out that a different provider or type of service will better suit your needs, I can help you find the right referral.

  3. The first 1-2 sessions will be used to complete a comprehensive evaluation.

  4. Together we’ll formulate a treatment plan to address your goals using evidence-based treatment approaches tailored for your needs.

TREATMENT APPROACH

From the start of treatment, therapy should identify core issues and initiate meaningful change. Evidence-based psychotherapy interventions have been repeatedly shown to provide better and longer-lasting outcomes. My clinical training and expertise is based in empirically-supported interventions for psychotherapy, including:

ACT Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
CBT Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
DBT Dialectical Behavior Therapy
EFT Emotionally Focused Therapy
MI Motivational Interviewing

That said, no two people are exactly alike—and neither is any course of therapy. We start with a treatment planning process that aims to be highly personalized, comprehensive, collaborative, and consensual. Depending on your specific needs, the focus of therapy may be more skills-based, insight-oriented, emotionally-focused, interpersonal, or may integrate a combination of themes.

THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE

Research has consistently demonstrated beneficial effects of the therapeutic alliance on positive outcomes in psychotherapy. While many therapists emphasize the importance of a strong “therapeutic alliance,” it may not always be clear to clients what this actually entails. Therapeutic alliance does not simply refer to feelings of closeness, openness, or safety in therapy (although it does involve these things!). It also specifically describes a strong, mutually shared understanding of the work we are setting out to do in therapy. Connection is important, but it’s not enough! In addition to a warm and supportive dynamic, the client and the clinician must also have a shared agreement about the purpose, methods, and goals of the therapy.

COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION

Psychotherapy can be a profoundly radical and vulnerable experience. This is only possible inside of a practice that constantly strives towards openness, respect, safety, and trust. To truly know a person is to honor their lifetime of experiences and identities, including (but not limited to) those related to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious and spiritual beliefs, gender, sexuality, physical and mental abilities, size or appearance, and socioeconomic background. Mental health is impacted by societal and systemic factors related to power and privilege, including (but not limited to) racism, classism, ageism, sexism, colonialism, homophobia and transphobia. Many people come to therapy with direct experiences of marginalization, stigmatization, or oppression which go unacknowledged in many institutional settings. Voicing those experiences can be a meaningful and necessary part of therapy. I am dedicated to creating a space that acknowledges and invites these conversations with sensitivity, openness, and humility. This practice welcomes all races, all ethnicities, all genders, all religions, all sexual orientations, all nationalities, all abilities.