”Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
-Leonard Cohen
My clinical social work training has taught me to illuminate the many circles of influence around each individual. My narrative therapy training has taught me to question the constructs within them.
I approach therapy in a way that encourages clients to develop the emotional space to examine challenges without identifying as the problem themselves. This specific and intentionally crafted distance allows us to collaboratively examine a situation, pattern or behavior, from a position of lesser judgment and amplified access to curiosity.
With families and couples, I help foster an environment where the voices of each individual as well as the co-created dynamics between them can be seen and heard. I am as comfortable incorporating traditional, evidence-based methods, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as I am spirituality, creative writing and meditation. I tend to lean on existential and feminist theories as I find both to be essential and endlessly relevant in the challenging times in which we find ourselves. I weave these theories through my work intellectually, while also utilizing somatic practices such as Hakomi and EMDR where intellectual approaches become limited.
Over the years, I have seen themes emerge amongst the clients that really gravitate towards my approach. These clients identify as highly attuned, driven and sometimes perfectionistic. They may have found themselves in high profile career paths, something they note as a source of both pride and often tension or stress. Their work may come with a team of employees, a mass of followers, or a quiet and sacred idea that is burning to be brought into the world, one that excites, terrifies and plagues them with self-doubt. They may be speakers, writers, creatives or visionaries in both big and small ways. You may be reading this and thinking you do not meet that profile and that is perfectly okay. You may identify more with the loneliness that comes from seeing things differently than many of those around you. Perhaps this was true in your family of origin more than it has been a theme in your professional development. This sense of “otherness,” is another common trait amongst my clients. Learning to effectively harness these unique perspectives and lenses can be deeply transformational.
In a world that continues to demand sameness and acquiescence, I have a particular passion for working to nurture and protect independent thought. That said, there is a sadness and often an anxiety that comes with perspectives that fall outside of normative, dominant culture. My hope is that clients feel a softening of those painful edges and a greater affection towards aspects of themselves that may have caused them discomfort throughout the years.
I have also found myself frequently working with individuals in caregiving roles. I tend to have other therapists, nurses, physicians, hospice workers, teachers and healers of many varieties amongst my clientele. Holding space for the space holders of the world is an honor and a privilege. As we all know, these roles often exist within contexts that quickly roll downhill into burnout. These demanding systems are often juxtaposed with unwavering intrinsic values that thirst for work rooted in meaning in order to access professional fulfillment. Navigating these competing elements is a challenging and ongoing exploration.
Social justice plays a crucial role in my work in numerous ways. It is important that I not only empower clients as they navigate how to move through the world, but that I play a role in making that world one that welcomes them. I maintain a safe, informed and welcoming space for clients, especially those within the LGBTQ+ community while holding that one's identity may or may not play a role in the reasons behind seeking therapeutic space.
I find it imperative to maintain a collaborative working dynamic that is uniquely and genuinely driven by each client. Creating a non-hierarchal space is a core value of mine. Through this approach, I hope each client feels a sense of deep empowerment and connection to the resources they already possess. I aim to uncover the resources already on board as well provide new ones and bring all of this together towards whatever your identified goals and dreams may be.
-4700 Hale Parkway-Suite 380-Denver-CO-80222-
-(860) 402-8977-
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