Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.

In my Master's program, we learned the saying, "The therapist is the therapy". If that's true, it makes sense you might want to get to know a little about me to start. Since 2019 I have been specializing in treating anxiety disorders. However, my experience with anxiety disorders started much earlier, in my personal life for myself, and with my children. This lived experience helps me to understand the overwhelm that anxiety can cause, and how it can take control of not just one person, but even a whole family. I also know first-hand that having anxiety doesn’t just mean feeling anxious, it also often comes with a harsh inner critic that can bring shame and depression. 

I see my role in therapy as a guide - someone who’s been there, struggled too, and now also has the benefit of experience and  specialized training. The personal experience helps me tap into compassion for what my clients are experiencing. This helps me remember to check in, ask how things are going, do we need to tap the brakes, adjust the intensity, increase motivation, give a giant enthusiastic high-five, help you notice how brave and amazing you are. The specialized training helps me to have a structure so that I know we are following best practices and doing so in as quick a manner as possible. The joke I often make is, “My job is to work myself out of a job!”. 

My training includes the following evidence-based practices:  Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). I have also been trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and a variety of other parent coaching programs (such as Collaborative Problem Solving). My new interest and training focus is in Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT).