Treatment Approaches

I primarily use cognitive-behavioral therapies, as well as dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) approaches. These therapies help people learn to understand how their thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and behaviors are related to the difficulties they are facing, as well as their environment, and help people learn to apply various techniques to live a valued and meaningful life. I have particular expertise in the areas below. 

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Have you experienced a traumatic event? Do you find yourself having unwanted memories, avoiding things that remind you of the event, having nightmares of the event, blaming yourself for what happened, or being upset when reminded of the event? 

Traumatic events often change the way that people think about themselves, other people, or the world, and lead to painful memories and reminders. These painful memories and reminders often lead people to want to push these away to try to protect themselves. It can feel overwhelming to approach thinking about these events, and it is possible to heal and recover from trauma and from PTSD. 

Treatment Approach: I offer the following evidence-based treatments for PTSD: Prolonged exposure therapy (PE), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and written exposure therapy (WET). 

Anxiety Disorders

Do you find yourself feeling anxious, worrying about things or the future, or replaying things over and over in your head? Do you find yourself not doing things that you want or need to do because you are nervous or worried it will be too much? Do you often feel anxious or scared of bodily sensations? 

Anxiety often tells us not to do things that we want to do or need to do, or tells us that bad things are going to happen. Anxiety starts to call the shots instead of us. In the moment, not doing these things can feel like a relief, and over the long-term this takes us farther away from the things we care about the most and the life we want. Therapy can help people face their fears to get back the life they want. 

Treatment Approach: I offer Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety, and the Unified Protocol to help people learn to manage and overcome their anxiety. I have experience treating a range of anxiety disorders including specific phobias (e.g., vomit phobia/emetophobia, driving phobia), panic disorder and agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Do you have unwanted images or thoughts that are upsetting and intrusive? Do you find yourself trying to avoid these thoughts, get rid of these thoughts, or caught in rituals to try to get rid of them? 

Individuals with OCD experience unwanted thoughts or images (also known as obsessions) and engage in compulsions, rituals, or avoidance to try to help manage them. People can have obsessions related to a variety of areas - contamination or germs, harm towards self or others, or sexual content, to name a few. OCD treatment can help people learn to reclaim their lives. 

Treatment Approach: I offer Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), a gold standard treatment for OCD, as well as the Unified Protocol to treat OCD. 

Mood Disorders

Are you feeling down, hopeless, or struggling with low energy and motivation? Are you struggling with your worth or self-esteem? Do you find yourself feeling up and energized, and then also feeling down again? 

Individuals with mood disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder, have difficulties with their mood. These difficulties can lead people to stop doing things that are important or doing things that get in the way.

I offer Behavioral Activation, Cognitive Behavioral for Depression, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy skills to help individuals learn to improve and regulate their mood. 

Other Areas

I am also trained to help individuals learn to improve relationships with others (e.g., changing unhelpful patterns, learning to be more assertive, setting boundaries), treat insomnia (using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia [CBT-I), or learn to better understand and deal with their emotions (e.g., anger, anxiety, guilt). 

Other Important Things to Know About My Approach

My ultimate goal as a psychologist is to help empower people to live the best life they can that is meaningful and important to them. I aim to help people understand their patterns and emotions, and learn how to better manage these on their own so that they feel confident without me. To get the most out of therapy, I strongly believe that practicing new skills or applying what we discuss in session is essential for the best results. Therefore, we will work together to identify helpful practice assignments each week and review these together at the next session.