My Specialities
Anxiety Treatment
Anxiety can show up in many different forms but it always creates fear and self doubt. Maybe you feel scared, or worried much of the time. Maybe you often feel self conscious, and concerned about what people will think of you. Maybe you are a high performer, a perfectionist who fears making mistakes, or who worries that your best won’t be good enough. Maybe you attempt to maintain control over all aspects of your life, because you become overwhelmed by that which feels out of your control. You might be afraid these fears and insecurities are holding you back personally or professionally.
By helping you to manage both the physical symptoms of anxiety as well as by exploring the deeper causes of your fears, I can help you to make sense of, and to overcome, the worries that prevent you from finding peace. I use tools such as breathing and grounding techniques, to help you to learn to manage the physical symptoms. I also help you to use mindfulness to better understand the content of the anxious voice in your mind and the patterns around when it emerges and why. By exploring the problematic underlying beliefs and past experiences which fuel your anxiety you learn to better challenge your fearful thoughts.
Dating and Relationships
Maybe you struggle to find a healthy intimate relationship, or to change unhealthy dynamics in your existing relationship. You might feel that you are stuck in patterns you don’t understand, or feel powerless to break. Maybe you and your partner have the same fight over and over with no resolution. Maybe you can see yourself choosing the same kind of partner over and over, even when those relationships never seem to work. Maybe you have difficulty dating or finding a partner because you are afraid to get close to people, or to trust others, or maybe you don’t know why you are struggling in your dating life.
I can help you to move beyond these problematic dating and relationship patterns. By helping you to focus on what you have learned about love, trust and communication in your life up to now, I can help you to make conscious choices about which of these lessons feel true and useful, and which of these lessons are getting in the way of your ability to have satisfying relationships.
Couples Counseling
It can be painful to feel disconnected from, or misunderstood by, our partners. You might feel that it is difficult to communicate, especially about sensitive or difficult subjects, without fighting or feeling disappointed by the conversation. Maybe you avoid difficult conversations all together. Maybe you feel that certain problematic dynamics feel stuck. Maybe you are struggling to feel that you can trust your partner either because of a specific betrayal, or because of the distance that exists between you.
I help couples to be more vulnerable and to truly listen to each other so that they can start to build new ways of understanding and communicating with each other. I help them to be more curious about one another’s perspectives, and about the potentially problematic assumptions and beliefs that each one brings to the relationship. These kinds of conversations can help couples change difficult dynamics and ultimately build stronger relationships.
Trauma
When we experience situations that are dangerous physically and/or emotionally, it can impact many aspects of our lives. Whether the trauma(s) happened in our recent past, or long ago, it can feel like those experiences start to define us, and our way of looking at the world around us. Maybe you believe that there is something fundamentally wrong with you because of the difficult things that have happened to you. Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the idea of examining these things, because you are afraid to bring up bad feelings, or because you think that you should be able to let the past go and to move forward by just ignoring what has happened to you.
I can help you to look at the overwhelming and difficult experiences in a way that feels tolerable. By exploring these experiences and the way that they are impacting your life in the present, I help you to move forward and to let go of any problematic behaviors, and beliefs that may have resulted from them.
Fees
Please contact me to discuss my hourly fee, as I adjust it periodically.
Although I accept Optum (which includes UnitedHealthCare), I am not currently taking on new clients who plan to use their in network insurance benefits.
Please check with your carrier to see whether they reimburse for ‘out of network’ providers (as most PPO plans do).
I can provide you with a receipt to submit monthly, and you can often be reimbursed for a large portion of my fee. When you inquire, it is important to ask what percentage of the fee they will reimburse, as well as whether there is a deductible you must meet before you will be reimbursed.