Our systems are brilliant at figuring out how to adapt to our circumstances. This ability to adapt is critical to our survival, and I’m perpetually in awe of the ways we find to keep going. However, as we move through life, our brains are understandably reluctant to give up adaptations that have worked—after all, our strongest instinct is survival. Why would our brain give up an adaptation that worked? It makes sense on a deep level to keep doing whatever adaptation protected us back then.
But when “back then” has passed, we often find these adaptations creating all kinds of problems. Difficulty with trust, feeling you have to do everything yourself, feeling unworthy or disconnected, experiencing pervasive and stubborn anxiety, never being able to relax, beating yourself up every time you do something imperfectly human, compulsively overworking. These patterns are often tied to the adaptations that once helped keep you safe, and they might need an update.
People who show up in my office have often tried therapy and other self-healing methods before but found no amount of learning or logic helps them shift the feelings held in their core. They know all the reasons they shouldn’t be feeling the way they are, but knowing isn’t always enough to create change.
We have lots of beautiful, effective ways to help you get unstuck.
I’m a certified EMDR therapist and use this framework to inform the entire treatment process. EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, has a strong body of evidence showing its efficacy for helping us process and move past stuck memories. EMDR allows us to go deeper than traditional talk therapy to target the stuck memories directly, often achieving deeper healing much more quickly than talk therapy. It is important to note that EMDR is effective even when clients don’t come in with explicit memories to work on, so don’t worry if this is you; we can still do the work.
In addition to EMDR therapy, I practice Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing, and Internal Family Systems informed therapy. Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy uses low-dose ketamine to help ease some of the defensive patterns that can block or slow down therapy while also promoting neuroplasticity to support increased flexibility and ability to access different perspectives. Brainspotting is a modality related to EMDR that allows us to access the networks in our brains holding the stubborn emotions, thoughts, memories and somatic sensations in a gentle, effective way. Somatic Experiencing is a body-based therapy that helps resolve symptoms of stress and trauma that accumulate in our bodies and nervous systems. Internal Family Systems uses the concept of parts of self to pursue self-understanding, reduction of internal-conflict, increased self-compassion and ultimately, an increased sense of inner calm and control. All of these modalities blend together beautifully so we can support you exactly where you are.
In addition to weekly or biweekly 50 minute appointments, I offer therapy intensives, which incorporate all of the above modalities in a 3-4 hour session. These can be used as an adjunct to our normal appointments or as a stand-alone therapy. Please see my “Therapy Intensives” page for more information.