Our experiences are not comprised simply of words, they are coupled with sensations and images, let’s explore together what else your mind and body have to say…..

Individual therapy that weaves somatic, art and traditional talk therapy approaches.

Have you been trying to do things differently but nothing seems to be working? Are you feeling as though despite how hard you try you cannot seem to convince yourself that things are fine or to stop the racing thoughts. Are you finding that no matter how many times you keep telling yourself "it's fine", "you're ok" or "that things are gonna get better", it does nothing to alleviate your distress or the intensity of your emotions? Are you feeling as though you are no longer your self and that things you once did with ease bring about overwhelm and anxiety? Have you tried therapy before and it does not seem to be doing anything? If any of this sounds familiar, a somatic based approach may be helpful. Targeting the nervous system can start to bring about unity between the brain and body making change feel more accessible.

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Treatments Available

Talk Therapy

In my 16 year history of being a mental health clinician, I have been both formally trained and certified in various evidenced based practices, meaning studies show that these tools and protocols can help people to start feeling better. For trauma I have formalized training in Trauma Focused-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Prolonged Exposure and Somatic Experiencing. I am additionally formally trained/certified in CBT, Triple P (Positive Parenting Program), Seeking Safety and DBT. The following talk therapies are available.:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approaches treatment by focusing on thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Together we look at how your thinking and behavioral patterns are contributing to your current challenges and will rework these different components to support greater well being and to get closer to where you want to be in your life.

Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT) is a framework for treating trauma that has shown to be particularly useful with children, as it incrementally exposes children to pieces of their trauma to support reductions in trauma symptoms and to reduce the risk of overwhelming the child by processing the information too quickly, which can lead to not wanting to talk about the trauma and keep children stuck in their current suffering. This model incorporates psychoeducation on trauma, building tools to manage difficult emotions, talking directly about the trauma and then sharing details about the trauma to a trusted parent.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) focuses on developing skills in the areas of mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills can be effective at building skills to manage intense emotions that arise, changing unwanted emotions, helping to stay in the moment and stop overthinking/spiraling and build relationship skills.

Prolonged Exposure

Prolonged Exposure (PE) is an adult trauma treatment that focuses on retelling the experienced trauma in a way that helps to reduce the nervous systems response to details relating to the trauma. The repeated retelling reduces the intensity of the charge the memory holds.

Seeking Safety

Seeking Safety is treatment that supports with recovery from trauma and addiction. This treatment focuses on different topics and skills that pertain to both addiction and trauma. These two diagnosis can often times reinforce one another where individuals feel like they are stuck in an endless loop of using to distract and escape the pain which then results in the addiction distracting from healing.

Somatic Therapy

When working somatically, together we will explore responses and activation in the nervous system along with possibly uncovering insights as to the motivations underlying behavior. Utilizing the techniques of Somatic Experiencing, we will work together to potentially support a more effective responsiveness of the nervous system and to support more effective energy movement. It is so difficult to change our thinking and story when our body is stuck in old patterns and seems to be fighting us every step of the way. Somatic work can sometimes be a crucial component in moving out of stuckness and bringing alignment between our goals, thoughts and behaviors.

Art Therapy

Some experiences do not yet have words or are too intense to speak out loud. Art therapy can sometimes be the bridge that brings our experiences to consciousness and supports in giving voice to our internal world. Certain memory systems can be compromised in the face of trauma or are not yet operational if occurring early in childhood. Art therapy can support access to visual memory and unconcious material. Art therapy can be particulary useful for children, as it helps to build children’s capacity to talk about their experiences and helps to reduce the intensity around experiences through the regulating properties inherent both in the art making process and within the art materials.

Child/Adolescent Trauma Treatment

When children experience something scary or overwhelming they often do not have the words to put to their experiences. Art therapy and somatic modalities can be a way to access those facets of experience and to support healing. They can break down the experiences into more manageable peices and to activate areas in the brain that can support not only increased ability to manage memories that may arise but to help the child develop a different perspective of the event and no longer be in a state of overwhelm. Trauma treatment is available for children 5 and over. On average TF-CBT with an art based approach has an approximate treatment duration of 12 weeks when sessions are scheduled weekly.