How I Work

I work extensively with trauma, including PTSD and complex or developmental trauma. Trauma often shows up in ways we don’t immediately associate with our traumatic experiences — in how we see ourselves, other people, and the world. Life often seems to get smaller after trauma, because we feel worse about things and avoid situations that will bring up painful feelings, and we can continue to blame ourselves long after the initial shock of an event has passed. PTSD is often much more treatable than survivors realize, and relief can come relatively fast.

One of the evidence-based treatments I offer is Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), a structured, well-researched approach to PTSD developed by Dr. Patricia Resick, originally for survivors of sexual assault. It is now one of the most widely used treatments for PTSD. Here is a firsthand account of one person’s experience of an intensive course of Cognitive Processing Therapy.

Anxiety can be constant worry that moves from one thing to the next, or it can show up as panic attacks, physical tension, or a sense of dread with no clear object. Whatever form it takes, most people respond by avoiding anxiety triggers, which brings relief in the moment, but can worsen the anxiety over time and leaves us with smaller and smaller lives. We can work together to help you realistically assess how worried to be, and return to living a fuller life.

I draw primarily on cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic approaches to this work. CBT helps you notice the predictions your mind is making and weigh them against the evidence, so anxiety becomes proportionate to real risk rather than organizing your life around avoidance. Psychodynamic work treats anxiety as a signal — often of a conflict between what feels acceptable to express and what doesn’t — and traces it back to unresolved subconscious tensions.

Depression is often experienced less as sadness than as an absence of hope and vitality. Things you used to enjoy become chores, and your own thoughts turn against you. Thoughts like “nothing will help” arrive as inescapable facts rather than things to question.

I draw primarily on cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic approaches to this work. CBT interrupts the cycle at the one place you can control, which is behavior — rebuilding contact with the people and activities that used to matter to you, and treating self-critical beliefs as questions rather than facts. Psychodynamic work looks at the deeper history underneath, since depression is often grief or anger we haven’t let ourselves feel, with a recognizable source in childhood.

For many people there are deep and painful patterns in the way they relate to others and themselves that go back to the very beginning. Strategies that protected us when we were young — keeping quiet, keeping others at arm’s length, behaving a certain way to be approved of — cause nothing but problems as an adult. It’s easy to start believing “this is just who I am,” especially if others see you that way too. I can help you understand where those patterns come from and develop healthier ways to meet your needs and build more stable relationships.

For many people there is no tidy distinction between symptoms like a depressed mood or excessive anxiety and the personality patterns that shape how we relate to others, ourselves, and the world. You may be certain you have a diagnosable personality disorder, or you may simply recognize patterns in your relationships, or in how you treat yourself, that get in the way of living the life you want.

Borderline personality disorder is the most common of these, and one of the most misunderstood. The people who live with it are often treated as difficult or dramatic, rather than as normal people in real agony. At its center are intense emotions, a shifting sense of self, fear of abandonment, and relationships that swing between closeness and chaos. These patterns often grow out of trauma or patterns of poor treatment in childhood. I offer both a psychodynamic approach to help you understand where unhealthy patterns came from, and structured trauma treatments to resolve PTSD symptoms and help you get “unstuck” from an overly negative view of yourself and others.

Most people had a plan, whether or not they knew it. When fertility problems come up, they’re not just medically exhausting — they’re lonely in a way that’s hard for people who haven’t been through it to understand. I offer supportive counseling for people navigating the long and uncertain paths of fertility, infertility, and assisted reproduction, as well as ASRM-compliant psychological evaluations for those pursuing third-party reproduction.

The transition from childhood to adulthood is an exceptionally complicated and stressful time for both kids and parents. I work with adolescents ages 14–18, and have worked with adolescents and families more extensively than any other population. I work with adolescents on issues like depression, anxiety, trauma, self-esteem and identity. Typically this work includes an element of working on family communication, building healthy independence, and offering help for parents on the challenges of parenting a teenager.

Perhaps you view yourself as somehow “less than” those around you. You likely have reasons that you think are good evidence of that — you’ve done things you’re ashamed of, or been told that you should be ashamed. Maybe there are important things about you that you’ve hidden from those around you, or that you don’t really understand about yourself. Whatever the case is, when we live shame or insecurity about who we are, it’s like carrying a heavy backpack all the time. It feels normal after a while, but it weighs you down and limits how far you can go. Therapy can be a safe place to unpack what’s in there: harsh judgements about yourself, guilt and shame from past experiences, painful moments from decades ago, and true things about yourself that you haven’t accepted yet.