LGBTQ+

Growing up feeling different or like something is intrinsically wrong with you is traumatic. Feelings of shame overcome you, and the words “I’m not good enough” play on a loop in your brain. It is damaging to your emotional well-being and can impact all areas of your life. Accepting yourself when feeling rejected by family, friends, and society is difficult but courageous. Whether you are an adolescent or an adult, I am here to support you with all that can come along with an LGBTQ+ identity- things like sexual and gender exploration, coming out, transitioning, living with HIV, rejection, discrimination, abuse, trauma as well as navigating sex, dating, and relationships.

Anxiety & Depression

Anxiety exists to protect you. It is warning you that something potentially harmful exists, either in your immediate surroundings or in the future. To help you respond to this perceived threat, chemicals increase your heart rate and breathing, preparing your body to fight or escape. However, chemicals can misfire, causing anxiety that is either too frequent or disproportionately high for the circumstances, interfering with daily life. This is often related to traumatic memories being triggered by present situations. Anxiety can be generalized or can appear in social settings. It can also manifest as phobias, panic attacks, or obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Feeling down from time to time is a normal part of life, but when emotions such as hopelessness, overwhelm, despair, or grief take hold and just won’t go away, you may have depression. Depression changes how you think, feel, and function and can interfere with your ability to eat, sleep, have sex, work, study, and engage in physical activities.

Whether you are suffering from anxiety, depression, or both, my mission is to help you find relief. Being vulnerable and sharing what’s going on in a safe space can be incredibly healing. Techniques from Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy are also especially effective.

Addiction

Addiction is incredibly complex because it has biological, psychological, and social factors. Substance abuse is believed to be inherited or passed on, making a person more likely to struggle with substances if there is a family history of abuse. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and trauma can exacerbate the issue while social factors like family, friends, work, and societal norms can influence one’s decision to partake. When treating addiction, I believe it’s important to examine each factor and tease out what is going on underneath the behavior. Often, it is about learning how to sit through discomfort and regulate emotions when alcohol and drugs are taken out of the picture. Discovering healthier ways to engage in self-care is key. I don’t believe in a one size fits all approach to addiction. It’s important for you to figure out what works for you and determine your own outcome. I work from a harm-reduction framework, which means that my goal is to reduce the harm that substances are causing you. Whatever that looks like is up to you.

Trauma

Trauma is the emotional response to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. When trauma occurs, it is instinctive for the human system to go into defensive resources like fight, flight, freeze, collapse, or submit. These are natural adaptations to danger. They become a problem when the trauma response is triggered by something that is not life-threatening and yet the human system reacts to the trigger as if it is. This is described as post-traumatic stress. Symptoms vary from person to person and can range from mild to debilitating. Post-traumatic stress can be caused by one specific traumatic event or by a distressing experience that occurs repeatedly over a period of time, which is referred to as complex trauma. Even smaller traumatic events from childhood can significantly affect the way we react as adults. Traumatic events ingrain themselves in the brain and perpetuate feelings of not being safe, worthy, or good enough. By utilizing EMDR, a powerful therapy that desensitizes trauma and reprocesses it, I can help you to embody a more positive view of yourself and find peace.