Shavonne Rich

Sometimes taking the first step toward therapy can feel difficult, especially when you have been trying to manage things on your own for a long time. Anxiety can leave you feeling constantly on edge, depression can make it difficult to feel connected or hopeful, and OCD may make it hard to quiet thoughts or behaviors that feel outside of your control. Experiences of trauma or PTSD can continue to affect your sense of safety and wellbeing even when the original experience is in the past. I work with children and adults experiencing anxiety, depression, OCD, trauma, and PTSD, while also supporting people navigating the additional challenges that can come with co-occurring concerns, complex circumstances, or involvement with the court system. My goal is to provide a supportive and collaborative space where you can feel understood, explore your strengths, and begin working through the obstacles that may be keeping you from moving forward.

Our work will make room for both what you are experiencing today and the thoughts, emotions, experiences, and patterns that have shaped how you cope. We’ll explore how anxiety, depression, OCD, trauma, and PTSD may be affecting your emotional wellbeing, relationships, sense of safety, and ability to feel present in your everyday life. I may use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help you recognize patterns in thoughts and behaviors that contribute to distress and develop healthier ways of responding, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy to help you relate to difficult thoughts and emotions with greater awareness rather than feeling controlled by them, and Psychodynamic Therapy to explore how earlier experiences and relationships may continue to influence the way you see yourself and respond to the world around you. Cognitive Processing Therapy can help you examine beliefs that developed following trauma and begin creating a more balanced understanding of your experiences, while Trauma Focused CBT can support you in processing difficult experiences while building skills to manage their emotional impact. Motivational Interviewing can also give you space to explore change at your own pace and strengthen your confidence in moving toward the life you want. Our sessions will be collaborative, compassionate, and grounded in your individual needs, with an emphasis on both understanding where you have been and helping you feel more capable of moving forward.

You do not need to have everything figured out before we begin. During our first few sessions, we will take time to understand what brought you to therapy, what has been most difficult, and what you hope will feel different in your life. Together, we will identify goals that feel meaningful and realistic and decide where it makes the most sense to begin. You can expect me to listen with warmth and without judgment, while creating a space where you can talk openly about difficult thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Progress may look like feeling less overwhelmed by anxiety, becoming less controlled by obsessive thoughts or behaviors, reconnecting with yourself when depression feels heavy, processing trauma at a pace that feels manageable, or feeling safer and more grounded in your everyday life. We will continue checking in on your goals and adjust our work as your needs evolve. My hope is that you leave our work not only with practical tools, but with a deeper understanding of yourself and greater confidence in your ability to navigate what comes next.