Approaches
Therapy should fit the person, not force the person to fit a single method.
I work with teens and adults, drawing from different therapeutic approaches depending on what is most useful. Sometimes the work is about understanding a deeper pattern. Sometimes it is about learning concrete ways to regulate emotions, build confidence, navigate relationships, challenge unhelpful thinking, or communicate differently. Sometimes past experiences need to be processed more directly.
My approach is integrative, but each method serves a different purpose within the work.
Common Emotional Struggles
Psychodynamic Therapy
A large part of my work is informed by psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking.
This means paying attention not only to what is happening on the surface, but also to the patterns, conflicts, expectations, and emotional experiences that may be operating underneath it.
We may explore recurring relationship dynamics, self-criticism, emotional reactions, early experiences, or the ways you have learned to protect yourself.
The goal is not simply to analyze the past. It is to understand how unconscious patterns continue to shape the present so that you have more freedom in how you respond.
As these patterns become clearer, you can begin to distinguish between reactions that happen automatically and choices that are more consistent with your values, relationships, and the kind of life you want to build.
Humanistic Therapy
Humanistic therapy begins with respect for your experience.
I try to listen closely to what you are actually saying rather than imposing a predetermined explanation or projecting my own values onto your life. Therapy becomes a collaborative process of putting words to experiences that may initially feel confusing, contradictory, or difficult to articulate.
As we slow down and examine those experiences together, underlying patterns can become easier to recognize. You may begin to see how certain fears, expectations, defenses, or assumptions have been influencing your choices without your full awareness.
The aim is not to tell you who you should become. It is to help you develop a clearer sense of what matters to you and greater freedom to act in accordance with those values rather than being driven primarily by old or unconscious patterns.
This can also involve building confidence, navigating difficult relationships, and working through larger questions about meaning, loss, identity, responsibility, the life you want to build, and the person you want to become.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behavior.
At times, distress is intensified by automatic thoughts, rigid assumptions, or patterns of interpretation that make situations feel more threatening, hopeless, or unmanageable than they otherwise might.
CBT can help you recognize these patterns, examine them more carefully, and experiment with different ways of thinking and responding.
I use CBT as a practical tool rather than as the sole explanation for a person’s difficulties. Changing a thought can be useful, but it can also be important to understand why certain beliefs or reactions developed in the first place.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
DBT provides practical skills for managing intense emotions and responding more effectively when you feel overwhelmed.
These skills may include learning how to tolerate distress, regulate emotions, stay grounded in the present, communicate needs more clearly, and navigate conflict without escalating or shutting down.
DBT is especially useful when emotions feel difficult to control or when you understand what is happening but struggle to respond differently in the moment.
I integrate DBT skills when they are useful rather than treating therapy as a standardized DBT program. The skills can provide greater stability and emotional flexibility while we continue exploring the deeper patterns contributing to the problem.
Trauma Therapy & EMDR
Trauma therapy is not only about revisiting what happened. It is also about helping your mind and body respond differently to experiences that may still feel active in the present.
Depending on your needs, the work may include building emotional regulation skills, learning how to stay grounded when you feel overwhelmed, understanding triggers and protective responses, and gradually reprocessing difficult experiences so they carry less emotional intensity.
EMDR is one approach I may use as part of this process. It is a structured trauma therapy that uses bilateral stimulation while you focus on aspects of a distressing memory, emotion, or belief. For some people, this can help the experience feel less immediate and change the way it is held emotionally.
Trauma work is paced carefully. The goal is not to force you back into painful experiences, but to build enough stability and awareness that those experiences can be approached, understood, and processed without becoming overwhelming.
Mindfulness & Present-Moment Awareness
Mindfulness can help you notice thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and impulses without immediately reacting to them.
In therapy, this may mean learning to recognize what is happening internally as it unfolds rather than only understanding it afterward.
This kind of awareness can create a small but important space between an emotion and a reaction. Over time, that space can make it easier to tolerate discomfort, recognize automatic patterns, and choose how you want to respond.
I adapt my approach to fit the needs of my clients
If you are actively overwhelmed and struggling to manage day to day, sometimes focusing on stabilization is the right move. Other times, we may need to spend time articulating what’s causing this overwhelm so we can find real solutions that bring long term relief.
Depending on your needs, we may focus on understanding a longstanding unconscious pattern. Other times, we may challenge a particular way of thinking, practice an emotional regulation skill, work through relationship difficulties, strengthen confidence, process a traumatic experience, or spend time trying to put words to something that has been difficult to understand.
These approaches serve different functions, but they share a common goal: helping you understand yourself more clearly, reduce your suffering, and develop greater freedom in how you live.
The purpose of theory and technique is not to force your experience into a model. It is to give us different ways of understanding what is happening and different tools for creating change.
How These Approaches Fit Together
Looking to Book a Session?
You do not need to have everything figured out before starting therapy. If you are looking for a space to better understand yourself, work through what has been difficult, and create meaningful change, we can begin there.
Schedule a free consultation to see if we might be a good fit.