My Approach
In my over a decade of experience in therapy I have learned a lot about what works and a lot about what doesn’t.
While there are no guarantees, I believe I have built a model that has helped countless people find the support, strength, and motivation to address long-standing issues and access the life they want.
What to Expect
We will start with a 15-20min phone call to discuss what you hope to get out of therapy and a brief overview of your history. You also have the opportunity to ask me any questions you might have.
First Contact
This semi-structured 75min session focuses on gathering your history and getting to know one another. Don’t feel pressured to get everything out in this first meeting; we will have plenty of time as we work together.
Intake
Once our intake is complete, you and I will begin by identifying and clearly defining the goals we will work towards in therapy. These will be our guide posts for our treatment, informing the direction we take together.
Collaboration
Teamwork isn’t just between you and I, especially if you have other providers you work with regularly or family members you would like to include in your care. I view the therapist as the middle ground between all of these important people in your life and we will discuss how that role will be used in our treatment.
Teamwork
We will determine together what the appropriate frequency and duration of our sessions will be and set a recurring therapy schedule so you have a guaranteed appointment slot. Frequency of therapy will be continuously evaluated by us and we will discuss when your needs change and make the appropriate shifts to our work.
Treatment
A Blended Approach
Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at separating our understanding of ourselves from our behaviors, feelings, and thoughts about ourselves. ACT is “action-oriented” and helps individuals stop avoiding and battling with their emotions and instead, learn to accept that their feelings are valid and that emotions do not need to stand in the way of living life and reaching goals.
ACT works to accept and be present with your broad range of experiences and emotions, distancing yourself from and changing the ways in which you react to difficult feelings and thoughts by broadening your understanding of yourself and your identity to be more than just your thoughts and feelings. This is done through identifying and connecting with your values, setting measurable and attainable goals, and engaging with committed action to make changes.
Acceptance Commitment Therapy
Structural Family Systems (SFT), is a systemic, relational therapy that views problems as originating not only within the individual, but within the systems they live within. This can be the family system as well as the societal and overarching cultural systems. While it is often used in family therapy, SFT, its interventions and perspective, are highly effective when working with individuals. It is an action-oriented, present-moment focused model with emphasis on power dynamics, boundaries, and roles within the systems we live in.
From a structural family systems perspective, I pay close attention to patterns: how roles are organized, where boundaries are too rigid or too loose, the impacts of larger systems like culture and government on behavior and mental health, and how power, responsibility, and emotional labor are distributed within relationships. Together, we identify interactional cycles that keep people stuck and work actively in the room to strengthen boundaries, realign roles, and support relationships that feel safer, clearer, and more sustainable.
Structural Family Systems
What Does This Look Like in Therapy?
Blending these approaches allows therapy to address both the system and the self. We will work together to clearly define the primary roles you take on in your life and the values you hold within these roles, set values-based goals, and actively work towards achieving them. As relationships shift, you will learn to relate differently to your inner experiences—reducing blame, increasing flexibility, and supporting behavior that aligns with your values. The result is therapy that is both active and deeply human, focused not on “fixing” people, but on helping them live with greater clarity, connection, and purpose within their relationships and their lives. I use interventions from other therapeutic modalities as well, including specific skills from CBT/DBT, Narrative Therapies, IFS, imaginal therapies, and experiential exercises to deepen the work we are doing and move you along in your healing process.