What can we accomplish together?
Adolescents
My adolescent clients tell me they are grateful that they can talk about anything without feeling judged. They feel that way because I do not focus on limiting them, but rather on helping them develop their judgment and decision-making skills as their adult identities take shape. When concerns related to exploring an LGBTQ+ identity are present, depression and anxiety are also likely to be heightened.
I want my young clients to ask themselves, “How can I help myself?” and “Does this choice align with my values?”
As long as the adolescent is living with their parent/s and/or other caretakers, family involvement is critical. My work with adolescents often includes parenting consultation, with and without the young person present, with confidentiality carefully managed so that breaches of trust do not impact the client-therapist relationship.
Adolescence is a time of passion, individuation, and exponential growth. Some of my favorite clinical moments involve seeing my teen clients become more confident, balanced, and fully engaged in their lives.
Adults
My experience working with adults has taught me to distinguish between times when I need to listen and affirm and times when I need to push. In addition to plentiful validation, I find it important to challenge my clients to spur growth.
I am not afraid of big emotions or complex problems and will sit with you as we sort out a course of action. Our work may be more behavioral in nature (“What do I do when…?”), insight-oriented (“Why do I do it?”), or most commonly a mixture of the two.
My adult clients tell me they are grateful for a weekly opportunity to pause their busy lives and reflect on needed changes so they can stop going through the motions and re-connect with their authentic self.
Supporting parents of adolescents and young adults who identify as LGBTQ+ has become a niche specialty that I value deeply. Parents have educational needs and complex emotions in response to their child’s disclosure of a queer identity that my advanced training and experience make me uniquely equipped to address.
Relationships
I work with couples as well as consensually non-monogamous and polyamorous relationship systems. Work with relationship systems allows for me to experience the interpersonal dynamics first hand, without relying on a report of what happened outside of session. This dynamic makes relationship sessions exciting opportunities to make changes in real time. I may prompt you to shift your eye contact, body language, and use of language to enhance communication with your partner/s.
The goal of relationship therapy is not to solve all of the problems during sessions. The goal is to enhance empathy and promote open communication so that you can work together to solve problems together more effectively outside of session.
My practice of relationship therapy includes individual break out sessions as part of the assessment process. These sessions provide an opportunity for me to gain insight into each partner’s perspective and experiences before bringing that feedback to the rest of the system.
I have noticed an increase in young people seeking out relationship therapy early on to prevent today’s annoyances from becoming years of resentment. I can also help support a relationship system that needs to adapt in response a partner disclosing an LGBTQ+ identity.