Services
Therapeutic Approaches
Art Therapy
Art therapy is the use of the art process to explore and manage difficult experiences while healing. Art therapy offers the opportunity to experience healing in a simultaneously safe and deeply emotional way. Painful memories and feelings can be explored creatively. Art therapy can be an especially effective therapy for those who struggle with verbal communication or experience disconnection between their internal sense of self and current lived experiences. In order to practice art therapy safely and effectively, art therapists attend accredited graduate programs, which include extensive supervision, to refine our use of art to affect psychological processes.
Participating in art therapy does not require artistic talent or knowledge. The focus is on expression of where you are now and your responses to the art. By creating and exploring, you will gain insight into deeper internal processes and be able to change your relationship to them. At times, art therapy reveals strengths we forgot we had! Within the practice of art therapy are a variety of approaches. Our particular use of art therapy will depend on your individual needs when we begin working together.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
ACT is an evidence-based therapy framework which focuses on increasing psychological flexibility. In ACT, progress is determined by a person's improved ability to tolerate and manage difficult thoughts and feelings, identification of freely chosen individual values, and actions taken toward living according to these values. ACT teaches you to be the assessor of your own choices and experiences and to modify your approaches. Metaphors are central to ACT work, thus it integrates nicely with art therapy. Techniques are taught which increase your contact to the present moment (similar to mindfulness but different in purpose and execution). You will develop new ways of relating to your anxious, sad, and angry feelings. Additionally, you will work to find increased satisfaction in your daily choices. ACT involves practice outside sessions, and regular assessment of your progress. The goal of ACT, and all my work, is for you to no longer need me.
Compassion Focused Therapy
Often, people arrive to therapy with minds that are highly critical of themselves or others. These criticisms often accompany feelings of guilt and shame. Shame and guilt can become barriers to healing and need to be attended to. CFT allows for the development of an internal compassionate self even if one is currently lacking. By developing your compassionate mind, you will gain the ability to meet injured or neglected aspects of yourself with care. Compassion reduces shame and increases tolerance of difficult experiences. CFT relies on regulated breathing and somatic techniques, visualizations, and repeated practice of engaging with this compassionate self. It is a gentle therapy practice with a focus on safety and trust. CFT integrates well with both art therapy and ACT.
Art Therapy
Art therapy is the use of the art process to explore and manage difficult experiences while healing. Art therapy offers the opportunity to experience healing in a simultaneously safe and deeply emotional way. Painful memories and feelings can be explored creatively. Art therapy can be an especially effective therapy for those who struggle with verbal communication or experience disconnection between their internal sense of self and current lived experiences. In order to practice art therapy safely and effectively, art therapists attend accredited graduate programs, which include extensive supervision, to refine our use of art to affect psychological processes.
Participating in art therapy does not require artistic talent or knowledge. The focus is on expression of where you are now and your responses to the art. By creating and exploring, you will gain insight into deeper internal processes and be able to change your relationship to them. At times, art therapy reveals strengths we forgot we had! Within the practice of art therapy are a variety of approaches. Our particular use of art therapy will depend on your individual needs when we begin working together.
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is an evidence-based therapy framework which focuses on increasing psychological flexibility. In ACT, progress is determined by a person's improved ability to tolerate and manage difficult thoughts and feelings, identification of freely chosen individual values, and actions taken toward living according to these values. ACT teaches you to be the assessor of your own choices and experiences and to modify your approaches. Metaphors are central to ACT work, thus it integrates nicely with art therapy. Techniques are taught which increase your contact to the present moment (similar to mindfulness but different in purpose and execution). You will develop new ways of relating to your anxious, sad, and angry feelings. Additionally, you will work to find increased satisfaction in your daily choices. ACT involves practice outside sessions, and regular assessment of your progress. The goal of ACT, and all my work, is for you to no longer need me.
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
Often, people arrive to therapy with minds that are highly critical of themselves or others. These criticisms often accompany feelings of guilt and shame. Shame and guilt can become barriers to healing and need to be attended to. CFT allows for the development of an internal compassionate self even if one is currently lacking. By developing your compassionate mind, you will gain the ability to meet injured or neglected aspects of yourself with care. Compassion reduces shame and increases tolerance of difficult experiences. CFT relies on regulated breathing and somatic techniques, visualizations, and repeated practice of engaging with this compassionate self. It is a gentle therapy practice with a focus on safety and trust. CFT integrates well with both art therapy and ACT.
Meet neglected aspects of yourself with care.
Symptoms & struggles
Neurodivergence Related Struggles
Neurodiversity refers to the understanding that human neurological functioning is a spectrum of ability. Being neurodivergent means having neurological functioning that falls outside of what is considered "typical." If we organized data about a particular aspect of functioning on a normal curve, then neurodivergence refers to characteristics occurring outside of 68% of folks' neurological functioning.
Names for neurodivergence which may be familiar:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism
- Giftedness (or rainforest minds)
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome
- Highly Sensitive
- Slow processing
I'm certain you've heard others. We have developed many ways to label and identify people who function in a fashion other than typical.
Neurodivergent adults come to therapy for a variety of reasons. In my practice, these have been the most common:
- Inability to "fake being normal" anymore
- Depression from feeling unseen
- Anxiety about social relationships and functioning
- Wanting to more deeply understand their own feelings and the feelings of others
- Wanting to know more about their specific neurodivergence spice
- A desire to live less stressfully, and more meaningfully, in a world not designed to support them
- Processing hurtful, even traumatic, experiences related to their neurodivergence
Because neurodivergence presents differently in each person, we will spend the first couple sessions building an understanding of how neurodivergence has impacted your life and what changes you desire. We will be exploring your sensory, social, and cognitive experiences and challenges. We may use art, talking, exercises, etc. to understand where you are when you enter therapy. I will discuss with you what I can offer in response to your needs. Then we will collaborate on a plan for therapy. Therapy for neurodivergence includes attention to sensory needs, and it requires flexibility from the therapist in response to in-session struggles. We will work together to assist you with monitoring your somatic responses and communicating your needs in the therapy room throughout the entire therapy relationship. Building this skill is often the first step for folks to start living a fuller life outside the therapy room!
Depression and Anxiety
Occasional bouts of depression is part of the full spectrum of typical human experience. However, depression which does not clear up on its own can became a serious issue. The same is true for anxiety - it is an expected, human feeling and can become an overwhelming problem for some.
Depression and anxiety both commonly manifest physically. Symptoms such as stomach pains, headaches, disrupted or excessive sleep, and motor control difficulty can suggest struggle. Predisposition for depression and anxiety runs in families and they can be triggered by trauma and adverse life circumstances. Both depression and anxiety have higher prevalence in people with marginalized, minority, or devalued identities (e.g. LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, first generation, BIPOC).
People tend to suffer higher rates of depression after giving birth and in late fall. Anxiety can increase during transition periods. Depression and anxiety often exacerbate each other and people with depression commonly have difficulty concentrating on tasks and conversations. Some people abuse alcohol and drugs, isolate themselves, or severely reduce their activity, causing them to develop other medical problems. Depressed people are also at increased risk for self-harm.
The clinical diagnosis of Major Depression is characterized by prolonged emotional symptoms including:
- Apathy
- Sadness
- Guilt
- Exhaustion
- Irritability
Likewise, a clinical diagnosis for an Anxiety Disorder requires prolonged periods of excessive worry which impede functioning.
Diagnosing depression and anxiety involves screenings, evaluations, and physical exams to determine whether a person’s symptoms are actually being caused by a different disorder. A person must have been experiencing symptoms for at least two weeks to be diagnosed with Major Depression. Every case is unique and requires individual attention, but there are a number of effective complementary ways of treating depression, including:
- Talk therapy
- Medication
- Adopting a healthier lifestyle
Grief and Loss
We all experience a loss at some point in our lives. Feelings of grief are not always associated with death, but commonly surface after a loss of some kind. This may include the loss of a loved one, a severed relationship, a pregnancy, a pet, or a job.
When a person loses something or someone valuable to them, feelings of grief can be overbearing. Grief can leave a person feeling sad, hopeless, isolated, irritable, and numb by affecting them mentally, emotionally, and physically. It’s important to understand that healing from grief is a process and everyone copes with this emotion differently.
Many people don’t know what to say or do when a person is grieving, but be sure to have patience with the individual (including yourself) throughout the entire process.
An alternative treatment method includes psychotherapy. Through psychotherapy, a patient may:
- Improve coping skills
- Reduce feelings of blame and guilt
- Explore and process emotions
Consider seeking professional support if feelings of grief do not ease over time.
Neurodivergence Related Struggles
Neurodiversity refers to the understanding that human neurological functioning is a spectrum of ability. Being neurodivergent means having neurological functioning that falls outside of what is considered "typical." If we organized data about a particular aspect of functioning on a normal curve, then neurodivergence refers to characteristics occurring outside of 68% of folks' neurological functioning.
Names for neurodivergence which may be familiar:
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Autism
- Giftedness (or rainforest minds)
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome
- Highly Sensitive
- Slow processing
I'm certain you've heard others. We have developed many ways to label and identify people who function in a fashion other than typical.
Neurodivergent adults come to therapy for a variety of reasons. In my practice, these have been the most common:
- Inability to "fake being normal" anymore
- Depression from feeling unseen
- Anxiety about social relationships and functioning
- Wanting to more deeply understand their own feelings and the feelings of others
- Wanting to know more about their specific neurodivergence spice
- A desire to live less stressfully, and more meaningfully, in a world not designed to support them
- Processing hurtful, even traumatic, experiences related to their neurodivergence
Because neurodivergence presents differently in each person, we will spend the first couple sessions building an understanding of how neurodivergence has impacted your life and what changes you desire. We will be exploring your sensory, social, and cognitive experiences and challenges. We may use art, talking, exercises, etc. to understand where you are when you enter therapy. I will discuss with you what I can offer in response to your needs. Then we will collaborate on a plan for therapy. Therapy for neurodivergence includes attention to sensory needs, and it requires flexibility from the therapist in response to in-session struggles. We will work together to assist you with monitoring your somatic responses and communicating your needs in the therapy room throughout the entire therapy relationship. Building this skill is often the first step for folks to start living a fuller life outside the therapy room!
Depression and Anxiety
Occasional bouts of depression is part of the full spectrum of typical human experience. However, depression which does not clear up on its own can became a serious issue. The same is true for anxiety - it is an expected, human feeling and can become an overwhelming problem for some.
Depression and anxiety both commonly manifest physically. Symptoms such as stomach pains, headaches, disrupted or excessive sleep, and motor control difficulty can suggest struggle. Predisposition for depression and anxiety runs in families and they can be triggered by trauma and adverse life circumstances. Both depression and anxiety have higher prevalence in people with marginalized, minority, or devalued identities (e.g. LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, first generation, BIPOC).
People tend to suffer higher rates of depression after giving birth and in late fall. Anxiety can increase during transition periods. Depression and anxiety often exacerbate each other and people with depression commonly have difficulty concentrating on tasks and conversations. Some people abuse alcohol and drugs, isolate themselves, or severely reduce their activity, causing them to develop other medical problems. Depressed people are also at increased risk for self-harm.
The clinical diagnosis of Major Depression is characterized by prolonged emotional symptoms including:
- Apathy
- Sadness
- Guilt
- Exhaustion
- Irritability
Likewise, a clinical diagnosis for an Anxiety Disorder requires prolonged periods of excessive worry which impede functioning.
Diagnosing depression and anxiety involves screenings, evaluations, and physical exams to determine whether a person’s symptoms are actually being caused by a different disorder. A person must have been experiencing symptoms for at least two weeks to be diagnosed with Major Depression. Every case is unique and requires individual attention, but there are a number of effective complementary ways of treating depression, including:
- Talk therapy
- Medication
- Adopting a healthier lifestyle
Grief and Loss
We all experience a loss at some point in our lives. Feelings of grief are not always associated with death, but commonly surface after a loss of some kind. This may include the loss of a loved one, a severed relationship, a pregnancy, a pet, or a job.
When a person loses something or someone valuable to them, feelings of grief can be overbearing. Grief can leave a person feeling sad, hopeless, isolated, irritable, and numb by affecting them mentally, emotionally, and physically. It’s important to understand that healing from grief is a process and everyone copes with this emotion differently.
Many people don’t know what to say or do when a person is grieving, but be sure to have patience with the individual (including yourself) throughout the entire process.
An alternative treatment method includes psychotherapy. Through psychotherapy, a patient may:
- Improve coping skills
- Reduce feelings of blame and guilt
- Explore and process emotions
Consider seeking professional support if feelings of grief do not ease over time.