Start accepting.  Begin thriving.

Why Am I A Therapist ?

Because exploring who you are, and choosing who you are becoming isn’t a luxury.

I learned early and often, don’t talk about feelings, conform to the status quo, and be independent.  While I can appreciate my gifts in some domains, my default settings learned as a child are not necessarily the foundation for self-acceptance, creativity, and healthy relationships.

Becoming a therapist was an initially an attempt to answer the questions I had about human nature, and became an ongoing learning process that reveals I am not alone, or unworthy, or broken.  I’m able to hold that stance for clients because I know it to be true – it’s never too late to cultivate our excellence.

I know the feeling of “terminal uniqueness” and the isolation and fear that comes from believing that if anyone knew the real me, I would be alone.

I know that with therapy, you can work through these often times debilitation experiences and reclaim all the parts of yourself.  I am familiar with many of the stumbling blocks, the saboteur, and the resistance, and I invite them all to come play.  

Outcast or outliner?

The choice is yours.

 Now is the time to reclaim your identity.

In my work with clients plagued with fear, self-loathing, and overwhelm, I have found time and again how resilient and truly brilliant humans are.

Terry Gilliam said it best in his movie, Tideland, “Children are like rubber; when you drop them, they tend to bounce.”

We will tap into that creativity that often manifests as illness or addiction, and turn it into a usable force in your journey towards your authentic self.

It’s hard to trust it now, but the good news is I hold the hope when you can’t.  I’m available to assist you in moving through and making meaning of what has happened thus far, and making choices about what to keep, what to cultivate, and what requires letting go.

I am a tiny potato.

I believe in you. You can do the thing.

Source of this brilliant silliness 

And why I’m calling myself the “tiny potato” you didn’t know you wanted:

Therapy is an amazing placebo. You do not NEED a therapist to learn, transform, and grow your awareness of yourself. I firmly believe whatever it is you are seeking to learn, change, or make peace with, you can do it.

The benefit of working with a trained therapist who sees you, gives your sense of agency and innate wisdom the respect it deserves, and offers an outside perspective on your experience informed by evidenced-based theory and practice, is that the pace of growth is greatly accelerated.

I arrived at clinical work after the suffering I uncovered in English and History overwhelmed me. What the long journey of higher education and years of practice have revealed is that the business of living is NOT figuring things out, but showing up. Authentic, full, vulnerable, and teachable.

I’m a geek many times over, but I’m primarily a sex and systems geek. I am enthusiastic about work with couples, poly groups, and alternative sexualities. I invite you to encounter yourself and your relationships differently, using a combination of experiential and cognitive interventions.