How I Work

Therapy that goes beyond talking about your problems.

My training spans several modalities. I don’t apply them mechanically. Every client is different. The best therapy responds to what’s happening in the room, not what a rigid protocol says.

That said, three approaches form the foundation of how I work: EMDR for processing, IFS for understanding your internal landscape, and somatic awareness for including your body’s intelligence in the work. These three approaches weave together based on what you need.

Most of the patterns that bring people to therapy were learned. They made sense at the time. They’re still running because the underlying experience was never fully processed. My job is to help you process it so you have a genuine choice in how you think, feel, and respond.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

EMDR is my primary tool for processing trauma, anxiety, and the negative beliefs that keep people stuck.

Here’s how it works in plain terms: your brain has a natural ability to process and integrate difficult experiences. Sometimes, when an experience is overwhelming, that processing gets interrupted. The memory gets stored in a raw, unprocessed form, along with the emotions, body sensations, and beliefs that were present at the time. That’s why a traumatic memory can feel as vivid and activating years later as it did when it happened.

EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, typically following a light bar with your eyes or using alternating taps, to reactivate your brain’s natural processing system. While the bilateral stimulation is happening, I guide you through the memory in a structured way. Your brain does the rest.

It sounds unusual. Most clients are skeptical before their first session. That’s fine. The evidence base is extensive: EMDR is recommended by the World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association, and the Department of Veterans Affairs as a primary treatment for trauma.

I’m an EMDRIA Certified Therapist, which means I’ve completed training and supervised practice well beyond the basic certification. This distinction matters because EMDR is a nuanced protocol and the skill of the therapist significantly affects the outcome.

I also use EMDR to process the experiences underlying anxiety, negative self-beliefs, phobias, grief, and performance blocks. If there’s a past experience fueling a present-day problem, EMDR can probably help.

IFS (Internal Family Systems)

IFS is a way of understanding your inner world as a system of parts rather than a single, unified self.

You already know this intuitively. There’s a part of you that wants to take a risk and a part that’s terrified. A part that’s angry and a part that says you shouldn’t be. A part that drives you to overwork and a part that’s exhausted by it. This is a system, and each part has a role and a reason.

In IFS, we get curious about these parts. What are they protecting? What are they afraid would happen if they stopped? What do they need? This approach is especially powerful for people who feel stuck in patterns they can’t think their way out of. The pattern is a parts problem, not a thinking problem.

I completed Level 1 and Level 2 training through the IFS Institute. Level 2 focused specifically on working with anxiety, depression, and shame, which are the states most of my clients are navigating.

Somatic & Body-Based Work

Bessel van der Kolk titled his book on trauma “The Body Keeps the Score.” The title is literal: stress, trauma, and chronic emotional patterns are stored in your nervous system. That’s why you can understand something intellectually and still feel it in your body. The tight shoulders, the clenched jaw, the knot in your stomach, the numbness that shows up when feelings get too big. These are information, not symptoms to manage.

My training in Hakomi, a mindfulness-based somatic approach, means I pay close attention to what’s happening in your body during our sessions. I might notice that your breathing changes when you talk about a certain topic, or that your hands clench when you mention a particular person. I’ll name it because your body often knows something your mind hasn’t caught up to yet.

Somatic work can be as simple as pausing to notice what you’re feeling physically, or as targeted as using specific body-based interventions to help your nervous system regulate. It’s woven into everything I do rather than being a separate thing.

What a Session Looks Like

If you’ve never done EMDR or parts work, the whole thing can sound abstract. Here’s what happens.

A typical session with me is 50 minutes. EMDR sessions run longer, usually 60–75 minutes, because processing work needs room to unfold.

In a standard session, we might start with what’s on your mind that week. Something happened at work, a fight with your partner, a dream that stuck with you. We’ll explore it together, and I’ll be more active than you might expect. I ask questions. I reflect back what I’m noticing. If something comes up somatically, I’ll invite you to slow down and pay attention to it.

In an EMDR session, the structure is different. We’ll identify a target memory, check in on the emotions and body sensations connected to it, and then begin processing with bilateral stimulation. I’ll guide you through sets of eye movements or tapping, pausing periodically to check in on what’s coming up. The processing often moves through the memory, through connected memories and associations, and arrives somewhere neither of us predicted. That’s how it’s supposed to work. Your brain knows where to go.

After a processing session, I’ll make sure you’re grounded and stable before you leave. I’ll give you guidance on what to expect in the days that follow, since processing can continue between sessions.

Some sessions are intense. Some are quiet. Some are funny.

Questions about how I work?

A 15-minute consultation is the simplest way to ask. No pressure, no commitment.

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