How my journey began

I wasn’t planning to open up to a therapist. Why would I share my struggles with a total stranger? Not talkin’.

No way. Nooooooope.

But my plan to stay closed up failed. I really needed someone to trust so I started talking.

That day, I met the most amazing person who happened to be my therapist. She made it easy to face my fears and to be vulnerable. I learned so much about myself and I figured out how emotions and thoughts were running my life. I had hope that my future could be full of joy and excitement - a hope I had almost completely lost before I went to counseling.

I eventually realized that I wanted to be “that one therapist” for others so I pursued my License as a Professional Counselor and a Marriage and Family Therapist. Over the last 15 years, I’ve grown in my passion for helping clients open up to the process of counseling and embrace the possibility of their worth & purpose.

Enough about me…I want to connect with you!

I’m glad you’re here. It means you’re hopeful for change. You’re excited to feel comfortable in your own skin. You’re ready to live a life that feels better. If that’s the case, I want to help you get there.

But, maybe you’re confused on how therapy helps. I get it. Like I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t sure it would benefit me either the first time I went. I was genuinely surprised that feeling truly heard and understood would feel both comforting and empowering. The therapy room quickly became a place that I felt emotionally safe to work on learning how to stop getting in my own damn way.

Sometimes therapy is really fun and we get to revel in your victories and celebrate together. Other times it can be really tough, even painful. My job is to hold space for you that feels safe, respectful, and honest so you can be vulnerable and do the work. You get to show up as you are today, no filter. 

In therapy, you get to unearth all the junk that’s getting in your way because ignoring the difficult stuff doesn’t get rid of it. Burying the pain oftentimes just plants an emotional landmine waiting to be detonated when we least expect it. 

Do you need to talk about something that feels scary or taboo?

Let’s dig in. 

Do you need to vent about all the stress and hurdles getting in your way of the life you want?

Go for it! You and I will sort out all the emotional landmines together.

You may have found me because you want to tackle your eating struggles, or learn how real recovery from food and body image issues can actually happen. I believe you can have full recovery. 

Our culture promises that changing our bodies will bring happiness, but chronic dieting leaves us feeling frustrated, hopeless, and really sick. Did you know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result? Let’s try a different approach, shall we? 

Instead of changing the number on the scale, let’s change the way you think about and treat your body. I’m not going to focus on weight loss but I will help you build a new mental operating system that works way better than that outdated, diet culture one. I use a non diet approach and help you learn Intuitive Eating. You’ll also learn all about Health at Every Size because this is a framework that helps you  accept your body instead of  changing it to try to fit society’s biased standards. 

Mindfulness might seem like a trendy thing but it is actually an important part of my therapy style because it helps you sit in discomfort, abandon toxic thoughts and live life on life’s terms. I also pull from a few specific therapy approaches you might already know about: Acceptance Commitment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Feminist Family Therapy, and Psychodynamic Theory. I am also a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) which means I dedicate a lot of time to learning more about the symptomology and treatment of eating disorders. If talking theory is an important factor to you when picking a therapist, I am happy to talk shop re: methodology and theories. 

We can figure this out together. I’m ready. I bet you are too.