My Approach to Therapy
My approach to therapy begins with the assumption that you are not broken, though you may be stuck, exhausted, conflicted, or living inside patterns that no longer serve you. Like all of us, you will bring both capacities and constraints into the room—ways of thinking, relating, protecting yourself, and making meaning that once helped you survive or succeed but may now be limiting you. My role is not to impose a formula but to work with you in a way that fits who you actually are: your temperament, your values, your intellect, and your goals. This is what I believe it means to actualize the oft-used phrase of "client-centered, strengths-based" therapy.
Beyond this, I am an insight-oriented therapist, grounded in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic traditions. In practical terms, this means I pay attention not only to what is happening in your life now but also to your past and the less visible forces shaping your reactions, relationships, and sense of self. Sessions with me will involve exploring these hidden parts, the ones that often operate just outside awareness. I ask a lot of exploratory questions, not to interrogate, but to help us think together, pushing insight and deepening understanding. I believe insight itself can be liberating and can offer the opportunity to challenge beliefs and restructure narratives: when we understand why something has such a hold on us, we gain real options—new ways of responding, relating, and narrating our own lives. Many clients find that this process helps them feel more connected, less constrained, and, over time, more fully alive.
At the same time, like many modern therapists, my approach is integrative, meaning I pull from other modalities when and where appropriate. When working with individuals, this typically includes Internal Family Systems, attachment theory, mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and cognitive-behavior frameworks when they are useful. With couples, I incorporate both the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy to address patterns of conflict, disconnection, and repair.
I find nearly all modalities start with the same assumption: that human behavior and emotional responses are patterned rather than random. People develop ways of coping that make sense in context, but those strategies can become rigid or costly over time. Durable change requires some form of increased awareness combined with new emotional and relational experiences. These modalities, each in their own way provide tools to tolerate feelings that were once avoided, respond differently in relationships, and practice alternative actions.
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Regardless of the modality, the goal in my work is always helping you suffer less, understand yourself more clearly, and engage your work, relationships, and inner life with greater equanimity and meaning.​ My aim is to offer a space that is thoughtful, collaborative, and grounded—one where we can work toward a life that feels not perfect, but more livable and more your own, where distress no longer dominates.
