What's the point?

People come to therapy with all kinds of goals, needs, challenges, histories, and experiences - there is no wrong way to show up. Counseling can help you both deepen awareness of your strengths, needs, patterns, symptoms, feelings, traumas, etc. and increase access to the mind and body tools, skills, insight, and healing states that give you range and choice in how you relate and respond to yourself and the world around you. Life happens; counseling can give you choices about how you respond, relate, make meaning, and move forward.

Some possible benefits of counseling:

Understanding your symptoms/presenting problems within the contexts of your life
Overcoming fears or insecurities
Coping with stress
Making sense of traumatic experiences
Moving through transitions in your life
Separating your sense of self/identity from your mood and thoughts
Identifying triggers that may worsen your symptoms
Improving relationships
Establishing safety and stability in you life
Developing a plan for coping with crises
Understanding why things bother you and what you can do about them
Changing habits/behaviors that are no longer working for you
Defining and reaching wellness goals
Building confidence and self-esteem

What I do:

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in the State of Colorado, and offer a strengths-based, client-defined, trauma-informed approach to therapy. I pay a lot of attention to the relationship between you and I - and together we will build a therapeutic relationship that is solid, ethical, and secure. I will be direct and honest with you about what we are doing and why, while also tracking for power/privilege/marginalization dynamics.

My approach to counseling is warm and relational. My work is informed primarily by the latest research findings in both neuroscience and trauma-informed care. I balance processing with skill-building, and talk therapy with body/movement work. Ultimately, your life context and what you want/need from therapy will steer and shape our work together.

I am a somatic psychotherapist.

This means I specialize in how the body/movement can access, work through, and heal trauma/challenges/problematic cognitive and behavioral patterns; increasing your access to choice and health that translate into your daily life.

I am a social justice counselor.

This means that in addition to working with your individual biology, history, and personality, we will also explicitly pay attention to broader sociocultural contexts, including race, ethnicity, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, education, age, religious/spiritual beliefs, mental/physical ability, income level, etc.