I'm a therapist working in the Tacoma area. I work with people who have anxiety, depression, and trauma. A few areas of focus for me are relationships, shame, anger, life changes, and identity, though this is by no means a comprehensive list.
Therapy is change, and for most of us, true and meaningful change is a hard road to walk. My role is to help you walk it, even when it's hard.
If you’re a first-time therapy seeker, you may have heard a lot of clinical-sounding terms for what people go to therapy for. I don't expect you to speak my language when we meet. If you're suffering, you can tell me you're suffering, and I'll ask you why. I'll be asking you "why" in many different ways, not because I'm quizzing you, but because that's how we'll work together to get the full range of context and information we'll need. Then we'll use that information to help you get better. My role is to help you uncover patterns, organize your thoughts, understand your emotional experiences, and so on.
That's my very simplified explanation of how I approach therapy. Aside from that, I'm here to provide a safe space for you to use as you see fit. For most people, that's a combination of exploring, reflecting, investigating, and poking and prodding at the life you've lived so far, with the intent of building a life you want to live. Along the way, we'll likely work on specific skills, strategies, and ways of existing in this world. For my part, I bring my clinical knowledge, my education, my therapeutic experience, and my lived experience to act as a kind of sounding board for you as you work on yourself.
For our first session, we'll be doing more information gathering than "deep" therapy. I'll be asking you questions about your history and your current circumstances to get the proper context for who you are, what's going on with you, and what you're looking for.
I'll also provide information about what therapy with me usually looks like, and you'll have a chance to ask any questions about the therapeutic process. You'll be getting a feel for how I am as a therapist. After that, we'll work together to start figuring out the details of your treatment.
