Acceptance of pain is part of loving practice. It enables us to distinguish constructive suffering from self-indulgent hurt. When love’s promise has never been fulfilled in our lives it is perhaps the most difficult practice of love to trust that the passage through the painful abyss leads to paradise. -bell hooks

People frequently ask what to expect from a therapy session, especially with children. Therapy is a process that often begins with inner discord. This discord can spill over to others, affect other parts of your life, or leave you feeling that you are not quite where you need to be. Therapy is a process centered within relationship and your story. It is alive and created in the moment, using your aims and desires as guideposts, moving towards finding relief and hope. In session, it is very much a process of finding what is inside of yourself that suffers, aches, holds you back, and defends while at the same time discovering what is true, strong, adaptive, and dependable within you.

You can expect to be listened to, challenged, supported, and guided to understand and express yourself in deeper ways.

For children, it is about providing them with safety, a voice, discovering their resilience, and nurturing their capacities to express their feelings in healthy ways. This is done through play, art, music, and writing. My background as an artist lends itself well to encouraging non-verbal means of expression to open up the emotional world of a child. I enjoy meeting a child with humor and aim to be kind but firm.

I use an eclectic approach as I am trained in : EMDR, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, TF-CBT, AF-CBT, CPT, JSO, and heavily influenced by IFS.