Areas of Focus, Modalities & Populations Served
I provide identity-affirming, culturally responsive, and systems-oriented care tailored to the diverse needs of individuals and families in Oregon. I offer in-person and telehealth services. Rather than seeing symptoms—like anxiety, depression, anger, or burnout—as static flaws, I view them as understandable adaptations to challenging environments, trauma, or a modern world that overloads our nervous systems and often attempts to disconnect us from ourselves and others.
Our work balances immediate, practical strategies to help you stabilize and feel better right away with deep, compassionate healing for long-term change.
Trauma Healing & Integration (Parts Work & Somatic Regulation)
When we experience life-altering stress, relational trauma, or systemic marginalization, our minds and bodies adapt to survive. Often, this leaves us stuck in extreme states: hyper-activated (angry or placating) or profoundly exhausted and shut down.
Immediate Grounding (Polyvagal-Informed Care): I front-load practical mind-body techniques to help steady your nervous system, quiet physical distress, and widen your day-to-day window of tolerance.
Internal Family Systems (IFS): As an IFS Level-1 trained practitioner, I approach highly reactive or protective parts of your personality—including behaviors like substance use, severe isolation, dissociation, hypervigilance, disordered eating, or perfectionism—with radical curiosity and compassion instead of judgment. The aim is never to silence or get rid of parts, but instead to understand and appreciate their positive intentions and how they protected us at crucial times in our lives. When these parts can begin to trust your core Self to take the wheel, they’re often willing to relax, freeing up space you need to face life with genuine calm, clarity, courage, and presence."
Somatic & Parts Integration: Sometimes our minds know the past is over, but our bodies still react as if the danger is happening right now—leaving us stuck in fight, flight, or numbness. Drawing from Janina Fisher’s integrative somatic approach, we safely bridge this gap. Instead of just talking about the past, we bring gentle awareness to your physical sensations and nervous system responses. By learning to release these trapped survival patterns where they actually live—in the body— we’ll attempt to help you move past the limits of traditional talk therapy and find a genuine sense of calm in the present.
Mindfulness-Based CBT: Often, a hyper-activated nervous system generates a flood of automatic, catastrophic thoughts. By blending cognitive awareness with present-moment mindfulness, we’ll practice tracking these mental loops without getting swept away by them. This allows you to witness your thoughts and core beliefs with objective distance, rather than letting them dictate your emotional reality.
Couples Counseling & Relational Therapy
Relationships are the primary ecosystems where we thrive, yet it is incredibly easy for partners to get caught in exhausting, repetitive loops of conflict and distance. In my work with couples, the relationship itself is the client. I provide a structured, equitable space designed to dismantle defensive patterns and restore a secure, resilient bond.
Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFS-Informed Couples Counseling): In couples, the relationship itself is the client. I utilize a specialized approach that invites each partner to turn inward first, learning to track and speak for the parts of themselves that get reactive or defensive, rather than speaking from them. When you can see your partner’s rage or icy silence as a protector trying to shield a wounded exile—rather than an attack on you—everything changes. By helping those protective guards lower their armor, we get away from blame and shame cycles, and build a deep understanding of what lies beneath the surface, opening the door for true connection, collaboration, and intimacy.
Healing Attachment Injuries & Infidelity: Drawing from attachment science, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and Relational Life Therapy (RLT), I help couples safely navigate the intense pain of broken trust, address imbalances in emotional labor or power, and repair attachment ruptures so the relationship can come back into healthy alignment.
Older Children, Adolescents, & Systemic Family Support
With 17 years of experience teaching in public schools, I have a deep, lived understanding of the pressures facing youth and families today. I provide a supportive space for youth (ages 9+) and families navigating behavioral challenges, identity development, emotional distress, and/or strained relationships.
Experiential Youth Therapy (Ages 9+): For older children and young teens, I utilize active modalities like sand trays, miniature figures, and role-play. This lets them use creative IFS concepts to externalize and map out complex parts of their thoughts—often in deeply playful ways. By externalizing their internal world, youth can discover, make sense of, and verbalize intense feelings and life experiences without feeling "on the spot" to answer a therapist's direct questions.
Relational & Family Sessions: Family conflict can leave everyone feeling exhausted and misunderstood. Rather than picking sides, I facilitate intentional sessions for parents and children using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Together, we practice communicating deep feelings and unmet needs without blame or shame, safely untangling long-standing friction to restore mutual respect. Healing occurs through connection, and connection happens when family members finally feel safe, seen, heard, and validated.
Translating Attachment Science into Everyday Strategies: Drawing from the Dan Hughes attachment model, I translate complex developmental science into realistic, everyday approaches for stressed and diverse families. I provide specialized guidance to help you deeply understand your child’s core needs, empowering you to build secure bonds through active curiosity, unconditional love, and healthy boundaries.
Neurodiversity-Affirming ADHD Support (Adolescents & Adults)
ADHD is not a deficit of attention; it is a neurological difference. It is a distinct human trait that carries incredible creativity, hyper-focus, and passion alongside real executive functioning challenges. My approach helps adolescents and adults move away from systemic shame and toward a sustainable internal rhythm.
How We Work Together:
Dismantling Shame: Years of trying to force a round peg into a square neurotypical hole leaves a heavy residue. I work to untangle the layers of shame, depression, and anxiety that frequently accumulate after a lifetime of feeling misunderstood or "lazy."
Actionable Habits: Together, we design practical, realistic strategies for time management, organization, and focus. We build tools that work with your brain's natural dopamine chemistry, rather than forcing you into a rigid, unnatural mold.
The Systemic Impact: ADHD does not exist in a vacuum. We look at how neurodivergent traits interact within parent-child, romantic, and professional relationships—fostering mutual understanding and reducing chronic friction around misunderstood behaviors.
ADHD Strategy & Environmental Alignment: Managing ADHD requires two things: practical tools to navigate environments that feel hard, boring, or chaotic, and the intention to place ourselves in jobs, relationships, and settings that actually bring out the best of our unique traits. Together, we will uncover your specific strengths and actively brainstorm environments where you can truly thrive."
Populations Served
Individual & Lifespan
Youth & Teens (9+)
Young Adults & Adults
Older Adults (65+)
Relationships & Family
Couples Therapy
Parents & Caregivers
Systemic Family Sessions
Specialized Support
ADHD & Neurodivergence
PTSD & Complex/Relational Trauma
Men's Issues
Life Transitions
Educators & Medical Providers (Burnout)
Career Counseling
* I respectfully do not work with children or adolescents who are brought to therapy entirely against their will. Clinical experience and research show that meaningful therapeutic progress relies on the client being at least somewhat open, motivated, and willing to engage. Forcing a resistant youth into therapy often backfires, whereas honoring their current readiness builds a much stronger foundation for future growth."