Services
About My Clients
If you're wondering why you're feeling so raw and activated by things you don't think should be hitting so hard, it's worth exploring what's underneath. Over your lifetime, your brain has taken note on how the world works and how to adapt for survival. If you're someone who's impacted by trauma, the body has developed an alarm system to keep you safe and stable. But the strategies that worked in the past may no longer be needed and the alarms may now be too sensitive for your current life.
My Background and Approach
I work with all types of people who experience symptoms of trauma. I also have some niche specialties working with people who identify (or are questioning whether they might identify) as LGBTQIA+, those who have experienced intimate partner violence or childhood abuse and are experiencing challenges in their sexual life and/or relationships, and those who have experienced trauma from institutionalization, such as the troubled teen industry (TTI) or hospitalization. I work from a LGBTQIA+ affirmative, feminist, sex positive and asexual affirming approach, and use an eclectic blend of tools including EMDR, sex therapy, parts work, somatic and mindfulness practices. The body and its sensations are invited into the work, since many people struggle with trauma lingering in different parts of the body, or feel disconnected from the body. We will collaborate to find the tools that are appropriate for you and work best to suit your needs and sensory preferences. You set the pace.
My Personal Beliefs and Interests
I believe that Complex PTSD (CPTSD) is a diagnosis that should be listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) because it is the best way to describe a legitimate set of symptomatic responses that I have encountered constantly in my work, life, and clinical training. Trauma is not about the magnitude of the event that happened to you, but how memory and information is stored within your mind and body. Too many people tell themselves "if I wasn't physically assaulted, it wasn't really that bad", yet their body and mind's persistent reactivity to perceptions of threat suggests otherwise. Some research suggests that neglect and emotional abuse can be as impactful or more impactful than physical injury. And further, I strongly believe that the impacts of racism, transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny can in themselves have complex traumatic impacts for those who feel persistently unsafe in their environment.