Services
About My Clients
Somehow, I work incredibly well with an enormous range of patients: from the queer, trans college student living paycheck to paycheck to the straight, Black entrepreneur who affords his ailing mother's hospital bills by booking speaking engagements for a couple thousand dollars. I have found myself especially helpful to people dealing with the aftereffects of our country's Judeo-Christian belief system: perfectionism, mind-body separation, internalized oppression, grind-culture, and shame.
My Background and Approach
Having been a parentified child to depressed parents, I am familiar with the difficulties of those living with depression, anxiety, and unresolved trauma. My therapeutic approach is fully informed by my initial clinical experiences working with people ignored, exploited, and often abused by our white supremacist culture: poor, unhoused, Black, Brown, queer, trans, and disabled people. My lived experiences in Fort Wayne, San Francisco, Chicago, and Grand Rapids have all crafted my lens of compassion for every person I work with. While I am a White, queer, gender-questioning person, I actively work on owning my privilege & leveraging my identity as therapist/gate-keeper in order to connect my patients to resources that may be difficult to access. I am trained in various therapeutic approaches, notably a trauma-informed lens that I use in-tandem with EMDR, CBT, narrative therapy, and compassion-focused therapy.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
Growing up Catholic and queer in rural Indiana was challenging for me; that particular environment--entrenched in White Supremacy--caused me to have many incorrect assumptions about people different from who I thought I was (straight, Catholic). Due to this, I am actively learning about ways to be a better accomplice & advocate for marginalized people. I've attended various BLM events from the Golden Gate Bridge to a Methodist church in Boston. While my engagement in such activism has decreased a bit since transitioning to private practice & adjusting to an ever-shifting schedule, I am continuing to learn about the impacts of colonialist ideology & imperial structures on our world: from Palestine to Hawaii. I am far from an expert in items pertaining to social justice, but I am constantly engaging with books, podcasts, and documentaries related to the difficulties people with less privilege encounter day-in and day-out.