Treatment Methods I Use
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
I am trained in CBT to treat Anxiety, Depression, and Trauma. CBT explores how thoughts and perceptions influence mood and behaviors. Identifying and challenging destructive, negative thinking patterns affords us the ability to manage our emotions more effectively. Click the video below to learn more.
EMDR Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy helps people recover from trauma and other adverse life events that can be sources of ongoing distress. It is less invasive than other forms of trauma treatment and relies on the brain's natural ability to reprocess troubling memories. Click the video below to learn more.
Conditions I Specialize in Treating
Anger Issues
I have extensive experience running anger management groups and helping military veterans better understand their relationship with everything from minor irritation to uncontrollable rage. Anger is a normal emotion but one that too easily leads to life-long impulsive and reactive behavior. I appreciate the significant improvement I see in clients who incorporate a few important principles to manage their anger.
Anxiety
I am trained in CBT for Anxiety and have adopted effective mindfulness practices that can greatly benefit clients struggling with constant or acute stress and worry. I have experience working in crisis situations including suicide prevention and adolescent/teen crisis. I have helped others manage generalized anxiety, social anxiety, anxieties stemming from trauma, and panic attacks.
Depression
Originally designed to treat depression, CBT has proven to be remarkably successful. I work with clients to explore patterns of inaccurate or unhelpful thinking that can give rise to and sustain depressive symptoms, especially those associated with self-worth. Acknowledging these harmful thoughts and replacing them with more realistic and practical ways of thinking can greatly reduce the frequency and severity of negative shifts in mood.
Trauma
My continued work with the veteran population has allowed me the opportunity to better understand the complexities of trauma (combat, childhood/developmental, sexual), how it develops, how it can affect us over the course of our lives, and how we can come to terms with these experiences to achieve acceptance and improved self-esteem.
My Approach
I believe the therapeutic relationship to be exactly that: a relationship, in which honesty and lack of judgment can lead to the most significant healing and change.
My approach is collaborative, solution-focused, and designed to be relatively short-term as we discuss, explore, and work to resolve whatever it is you bring into session.
In my practice, I also emphasize the importance of mindfulness to help calm and manage busy minds at the mercy of today's litany of distractions. Breathing and mindfulness techniques help to reduce anxiety, increase awareness and concentration, build resilience, and improve acceptance and self-compassion.
