My Approach

The Clients I Work With Best

Chic woman with dark skin and rose-colored hair wearing polka dot sweater and yellow skirt
 

I provide individual counseling for adults throughout Oregon.

I might be a good fit for you if you’re coping reasonably well day-to-day, but you know deep down that something’s just not really okay inside of you—that you’re hurting.

Maybe you manage to keep the hard feelings at bay some of the time—with work, or being around other people, or watching TV, or being on your phone. But when things get quiet and still, the feelings make their presence known, and they feel really hard to hold.

Maybe you sense you need help, even if you’re not exactly sure what would feel helpful. Read more about my style below, and if you feel your body settle as you read, it might be a sign my style and approach could help you.

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Due to my license, I can only work with clients who are in the state of Oregon at the time of sessions.

I am a Professional Counselor Associate, which means I have graduated with a Master’s of Professional Mental Health Counseling and am working towards full counseling licensure under the supervision of a licensed clinician (Kelly Prothero, LCSW).

My Counseling Style

 

I am warm, kind, and empathetic.

I care deeply about my clients and I’m told it shows through my kind eyes, my gentle words, and my keen attentiveness. I want you to feel seen and known.

I also believe feeling safe is critical to healing from what ails us. Of course, I can’t promise that you and your nervous system will feel immediately safe in my care, but I can promise I will strive to help you feel increasingly safe over time.

I accompany and collaborate.

I am trained in a type of psychotherapy known as Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP). AEDP practitioners believe that trauma happens when a person has to face overwhelming emotions without adequate support. We believe that helping people “undo their aloneness” in supportive, gentle ways can facilitate healing and transformation.

I facilitate experiences.

I care deeply about who you are and what your story is. But I also believe that having specific types of experiences in therapy can facilitate transformational change in a way that insight-oriented talk therapy does not. (Learn more about the science of memory reconsolidation from one of my trainers, Tori Olds, if you are curious!)

I use both AEDP (mentioned above) and another experiential therapy called Coherence Therapy to inform what experiences I guide clients towards.

You will hear me ask questions like, “What are you noticing is happening for you right now?”, “What was it like to hear me respond in that way?”, or “How did that experience contrast with what you expected?”.

I care deeply about our relationship.

I believe our therapeutic relationship can be a great catalyst for change and I use it routinely in my work. You will often hear me ask questions like, “Can you sense my support as you feel into that place?” and “How was it for us to do this together today?”.

I am somatically oriented.

I believe that somatic experiences (sensations in the body) can be powerful tools to help our brains find new ways of being in the world. You’ll hear questions from me such as, “What do you notice in your body as we start to discuss this?”

I know that the idea of making contact with your body can be new and even intimidating. We can explore gently and slowly together to allow you to dip your toes into these new waters.

I believe in inclusive care and liberatory frameworks.

I practice from an intersectional feminist, social justice lens and I believe that experiences of oppression and ostracism can be profoundly traumatic.

I welcome all clients to my practice, whatever their race, ethnicity, religion, size, gender, sexuality, disabilities, citizenship, or social class.

I am fat positive (and body positive) and Health At Every Size®-informed, and I consider myself an expert in these topics. I am also LGBTQIA2S+ affirming, neurodiversity affirming, and sex/poly positive, and will absolutely bring these stances to bear in our work, but they are not topics on which I am expert.

Like all of us, I am a work-in-progress in my social justice pursuits. I constantly strive to be culturally affirming and responsive in my practice, to pursue racial justice, and to be humble and accountable when I inevitably make mistakes.