Patricia Glynn

Sometimes life blows up in a way you never saw coming. A relationship ends. Someone lies to you. Trust gets shattered. You lose someone you love. Anxiety starts taking over your brain. Or you wake up one day and realize the life you thought you were building is not the life you actually have.

A lot of the people I work with are functioning just fine on the outside while internally thinking, What the hell just happened to my life? They're replaying conversations, second-guessing themselves, trying to make sense of someone else's behavior, wondering whether they missed something, and feeling completely exhausted by their own thoughts.

You don't need to show up with a diagnosis or a beautifully organized explanation of what's wrong. You can bring the messy version.

I'm not a therapist who is going to sit silently for 50 minutes, nod occasionally, and then ask how that made you feel. I am engaged. I ask questions. I notice patterns. I will tell you what I'm seeing. I will validate what deserves validation, and I will also challenge you when I think you are getting stuck, avoiding something important, or being much harder on yourself than the situation actually calls for.

There is room here for grief, anger, confusion, ugly truths, dark humor, bad decisions, overthinking, faith, and the occasional sentence that starts with, "I know this sounds crazy, but..."

I work especially well with adults dealing with anxiety, grief, heartbreak, betrayal, complicated relationships, and major life changes.

What happened matters. But I do not want the worst thing that happened to you to become the organizing principle for the rest of your life.

I'm good at hearing what's underneath the obvious problem.

Sometimes people come in thinking the issue is anxiety, a breakup, conflict with a parent, or not being able to "move on." Then we start pulling on the thread and realize there's something bigger underneath it: fear of disappointing people, difficulty trusting yourself, overfunctioning in relationships, avoiding conflict, trying to earn love, or organizing your whole life around keeping other people comfortable.

I ask a lot of questions because good questions tend to get us farther than generic advice.

Clients often tell me they appreciate that I am warm and compassionate without being overly delicate with them. I do not think people need to be treated like they are made of glass just because they are hurting. Sometimes you need somebody to say, "Of course that hurt." Sometimes you need somebody to say, "Okay, but let's look at what you are doing here." Usually you need both.

I also bring humor into therapy when it fits, because some situations are painful and absurd at the same time, and pretending otherwise doesn't make therapy better.

By the end of the first session, my goal is for you to feel like I understand the heart of what's going on and that we have a clearer sense of where to go next. We will talk about what brought you in, what feels hardest right now, what has been keeping you stuck, and what you are hoping therapy will actually help you change. I will also start listening for patterns, asking questions, and helping you sort out what may be underneath the immediate problem. You do not need to arrive with a perfectly organized story or know exactly what you need. We can figure that out together.

Ideally, you leave the first session with more clarity than you came in with, a better sense of what we will be working on, and the feeling that you do not have to keep trying to make sense of everything by yourself.