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Compulsions and obsessions can interrupt daily life and cause the paralyzing impression of being stuck in a loop. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) uses a slow, safe and systematic approach to reduce the thinking or behavior that keeps you feeling trapped. 

ERP facilitates a gradual approach to the object or situation that causes you fear and anxiety. The E refers to exposure, to purposefully confronting and maintaining contact with feared objects, thoughts, or images to allow the anxiety to rise, peak, and subside. 

The RP is Response Prevention or the lowering of the anxiety driven response. For example, if fear of germs is making you wash your hands every time you touch a doorknob, ERP works to reduce or neutralize that response. The goal is to get used to  the feared object (germs), sometimes called habituation. 

This therapy is evidenced based and has a proven track record of success. It will be coupled with Cognitive Therapies, strategies designed to help change your relationship with faulty beliefs that fuel fear and anxiety. 

We live in a world that is filled with opinions, judgements and seemingly limitless information. In all this, how do we learn to think clearly and truthfully about ourselves? CBT teaches clear thinking and fosters positive emotions and outcomes. 

“If you let cloudy water settle, it will become clear. If you let your upset mind settle, your course will also become clear.”                     

                                                           (Jack Kornfiled, Buddha’s Little Instruction Book, 1994). 

CBT is the go-to therapy for depression, anxiety and many other conditions. I generally begin by asking clients to identify any patterns of distorted thinking and to learn to see the lie in them. For example, Disqualifying the Positive is a pattern that only counts difficult experiences and failures as important: positive events and successes don’t matter. The “lie” is telling yourself all your experiences are bad when in truth humans experience a range of good and bad things on a spectrum. It’s not all bad. It’s not black and white. 

The next step is to ask, What is closer to the truth? This question brings clarity. It helps us discover there is something good in life, to express gratitude, and gradually change how we feel. CBT has the power to lead us from improving clarity in our cognitive state to improving balance in our feeling state. This improves calm and increases the ability to regulate emotions and restore stability

Therapy is a creative endeavor in which you are the work of art. My approach is to form a collaborative alliance with each client, so that together we can nurture health of mind, body and spirit so you can become the Masterwork you are called to be.

I favor an integrated approach to therapy that starts with a detailed intake for each client and a treatment plan. I work with adolescents aged 13 and up, young adults and older adults. My focus is on anxiety, OCD, depression and life transitions. Modalities include Internal Family Systems (IFS), Trauma informed therapy and person centered therapy. I offer EMDR therapy through an attachment lens to help clients with dysregulated emotion prepare for the journey of EMDR to the other side of trauma.

We all possess an innate creative power. Accessing this power facilitates increased awareness, inspires change and opens us to newness of life. Three top benefits of art therapy are:

Art therapy provides insight. The art doesn’t lie. This simple phrase convinced me to become an art therapist. Creative work portrays what we know deep within but may have difficulty putting into words. When you create, new vistas of meaning open up before you.

Art therapy heals grief and trauma. During times of struggle, grief or challenge, visual images and creations made in session or at home can unlock the wordless world of of pain suffered in trauma, fostering a sense of reorganization and resolution.

Art therapy promotes self-knowledge. I will support you getting in touch with your creative energy and feeling comfortable using materials, such as colored pencils, paint, clay, and other media. This creative work can offer a more in-depth way of telling the story of your life, promoting understanding and healing in the therapeutic journey.

Mindfulness is a necessary tool to foster a healthy mind and body in today’s over stimulated world.

Mindfulness meditation is a practice that helps us learn to habitually pay attention to the present moment. As a way of introducing clients to the benefits of mindfulness, we start with Jon Kabat-Zinn’s seven pillars of Mindfulness: non-judgmental attitude, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, non-striving, acceptance and letting go. From there, we incorporate a practice routine that may include mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful eating, or a body scan. All these practices together help clients with different problems and issues to work towards greater self-compassion, a deeper connection with the world and, ultimately, greater capacity for peace and joy. It’s a new way of being in the world.

Sometimes called Adventure Therapy, this approach conducts one or more therapy sessions outside. It nurtures a connection with nature, fosters positive emotion and a sense of personal goodness.

Nature Walk & Talk therapy is a sister to mindfulness approaches. It enables us to continue the work of therapy in the more expanded setting of the natural world. Being outside reminds us that we are part of a larger reality and part of the beauty of nature.  Walking can lighten the mood and be a restful interlude to the challenging work of therapy, fostering humor and gratitude. A separate Consent form is required due to the less private nature of this modality.