Who do you work with?

Any adult who believes their childhood trauma (including incest, sexual assault, emotional/physical abuse, neglect, etc.) is still impacting their adult life is someone I’m interested in working with.

The tricky part for most clients is admitting (sometimes believing) there was trauma in the past, and that this trauma gets “buried,” but resurfaces as other types of problems.

For example—relationship problems, difficulty expressing sexuality, hair trigger defenses, numbing out with various addictions, chronic anxiety, a tendency to dissociate and forget things, codependency, rage, and so many more issues I can’t list them all here. 

Do you work with kids?

No, I do not currently work with children. Kids are completely awesome, but teletherapy is not how I want to work with the youngest and most vulnerable population, as it makes it challenging and sometimes impossible to use certain tools and modalities that are so important in our work together, like sand tray, play, and art therapy. It runs the risk of underserving them. 

Adults 18 and older are welcome in my practice.

Do you work with a wide range of people?

Yes! I welcome anyone into my practice who is seeking their true self and wants to be less reactive to their own struggles. If you enjoying exploring your inner landscape, you’ll probably enjoy the therapy process.

Anyone of any gender identity, sexual orientation, race, and/or cultural orientation is welcome in my practice.

How do you work?

Great question! I’m a “trauma-informed therapist,” which means whatever you’re coming in to resolve or explore, is most likely connected to trauma from your childhood, or problems with the caregivers from your childhood. I use a variety of modalities, all of which are “mindful” or “person-centered,” to explore how symptoms in the present may connect to traumas in the past. By resolving the unresolved pain of the past, we can often spontaneously resolve the issues occurring in the present.

Do you take insurance?

I’m an in-network provider with Aetna, Cigna, and Optum in California and Tennessee. It is your responsibility to verify your insurance coverage before beginning a course of therapy. Any costs incurred not covered by insurance are the patient’s responsibility.

I don’t want to talk about all the awful things that happened to me. Are you going to force me to talk it out?!

Absolutely not. Never. Trauma-informed therapy doesn’t work like that. Study after study has shown that “rehashing” your trauma shuts down part of your brain and makes you feel like you’re reliving the things that happened to you. It doesn’t help.

What does help is something called “parts work,” and something else called “unconditional positive regard.”

We can work on trauma recovery without you ever telling me what happened to you.

I heard EMDR is a great treatment for trauma, do you do that?

I am trained and certificated in EMDR but at this time, I don’t offer it via telehealth. We have many other mindfulness-based approaches to select from when working with trauma (EMDR is one of many and I’m confident we will find what works for you.

Are you a Christian counselor?

No, I do not align myself with any faith, and cannot in good conscience explore faith-based issues with you. There are many faith-based counselors and therapists available across your state who are highly qualified to address these concerns with you.