Sometimes Life is Hard.

Anxiety can show up in your mind as racing thoughts, worry loops you can't escape, and unwanted scenarios you want to get rid of. Anxiety can show up in your body as panic, racing heart, dizziness, breathlessness, feeling like you're not in reality or in your body anymore. 

You might have noticed that your attempts to stop anxiety or avoid anxiety haven't worked. It's actually gotten worse, shown up in more areas of your life, and made your life smaller. 

A combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, said as one word) and exposure protocols can help. We'll work at your pace and you'll never be rushed or forced into something you don't feel ready for. I'm here to support you and give you the skills you need. But you're in control. 

The first rule of a good night of sleep is to not think about a good night of sleep. 

Sleep can be funny because it requires both you body and mind to cooperate and work together.

If you struggle with sleep issues that aren't caused by an underlying and untreated medical issue, such as sleep apnea, you might benefit from therapy that helps you develop healthy sleep habits to increase the chance of sleep and strategies for coping with anxiety and worry that comes from already not sleeping well. 

I am trained in both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, said as one word) for Insomnia. Each of these therapies on their own are proven to be effective for sleep, however, I combine the skills in both to create a tailored treatment approach to your specific needs so you can get some sleep. 

I need to finish this next project, and THEN I can take a break.

Sound familiar?

One crisis leads to another, and you find yourself a month, year, decade down the road without a break in sight. You keep telling yourself that as soon as you get to X you’ll be done, things will slow down, it’ll get easier. But it only seems to pile on. 

Friends and family take a back seat to work. You don’t have time for your friend who is struggling in her relationship. Or your parents who call you three times a day, “just to say hi.” You barely see your partner. And not having enough time for them makes you feel guilty.

But you can’t just stop working. You have bills to pay and debt to pay off. A future to build.

When it comes to stress and eventual burnout, either you recognize this isn't sustainable and find another way, or your body stops for you. 

A lot of times the idea of a work-life balance doesn't really align with your goals or the way you want to live your life; what you want to achieve in your life. And that's okay. I respect that. But sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking it's either slow down or push forward. But there is a third option. 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, said as one word) can help you align better with what your core values are as opposed to short-term goals. It can help identify patterns of behavior that are no longer serving you and create new patterns that do. Whether that's in the realm of sleep, task management, conflict resolution, boundary setting, or simply doing work you actually enjoy, I can help get you there.

I work with a lot of high achievers and high performers either burnt out after working 12-16 hour days straight out of college or CEOs and entrepreneurs who have created something incredible for themselves and feel trapped by it. 

I can help you build a life you love even if it doesn't fit into a traditional box. 

At this phase in your life, you thought that you’d have everything figured out or at least be hitting your stride.

By now, you expected to have a great partner, a remarkable career, maybe a hobby or two, and possibly even a weekend getaway with friends here and there.

Yet now every day feels the same – and not in a good way.

You’re not miserable, and life isn’t terrible. But if it keeps going as it has, you can see yourself headed to a not-fun place.

Something needs to change. And that something might be you.

My goal is to help you figure out what you want and what matters to you.

Untangling life’s roadblocks (in your world and inside your head), helping you get unstuck and back to living the life you want.

Together, we’ll disrupt the tired, same old patterns you’ve found yourself in and explore what you want life to look like rather than what you’ve heard you “should” want.

Change can be hard, but it can also be an opportunity. 

Perfectionism and Procrastination can go hand in hand. 

Either you spend countless hours stressing over making something perfect or you never even say yes to begin with. Your confidence is shot and you've hidden your talents out of fear of not being good enough. 

Sometimes we care so much that we feel overwhelmed by even the smallest of tasks and avoid until the stress builds and builds. And this strategy might even be working for you. Until it doesn't. 

I help clients get off the roller coaster of perfectionism and procrastination so they feel more in control of how they're approaching life. And less stressed in the process. 

Whether your trauma was one life-altering moment or a series of experiences over a long period of time, your experience is valid and real. 

Trauma can impact our beliefs, thought patterns, the way we relate to others, our nervous system activation, and invade our dream. And we can learn to cope in ways that sometimes aren't healthy for us in the long term. 

There are multiple evidence-based ways to address trauma. Please know that you are always in control. We will go through therapy at your pace and you never have to talk about something if you aren't ready. 

Health anxiety can become all consuming. Whether your mind constantly sends you "what if" thoughts about different illnesses, or you've struggled with random pains or physical symptoms that you can't stop obsessing over, health anxiety can take a toll on your life. 

Health anxiety can lead to two extremes: overuse of tests, labs, doctors visits and online research or avoiding seeking regular check-ups out of fear that they will confirm something is wrong. Either way, letting health anxiety control how you manage your health generally ends up causing a lot of stress without any real answers. 

My role in therapy is to help you understand the patterns that aren't serving you and develop new ways of approaching those fears so that you can actively manage your health while still living your life. 

I also help clients learn how to talk to other healthcare professionals to decrease the likelihood that their concerns are dismissed and to increase the likelihood that their questions are answered. 

Fear around your health doesn't have to take over your life. 

Sometimes when we feel that food is one of the few things in our life that we have control over, we can begin to engage in patterns of eating that aren't helping us. Therapy can help us process and develop tools for coping with the pain in our lives and build habits that serve us in the long-term.

I work primarily with those struggling with binge eating, food restriction, and food aversions. 

OCD can be a debilitating and frustrating experience. You know that you shouldn't listen to what your mind is saying but that little "what if" voice creeps in and you give in. 

Whether your life is consumed with checking behaviors, avoiding certain scenarios or people, or what some call "Pure O" where you're stuck in your head constantly with your worries, I can help. 

I have training in both Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Exposure Plus Response Prevention (ERP): the Gold Standard treatments for OCD.

Together we will help you regain control of your life so you can engage in what truly matters to you.

Let me start off by saying that when I say I work with individuals with chronic pain and chronic illness I am by no means suggesting their pain is "all in their head." 

Physical health and mental health go hand in hand. Having to adjust how you live your life and cope with constant pain or other  symptoms sucks. It's hard and it hurts and people don't really get it. 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT, said as one word) can help in three main ways. First, it provides a space where you are heard and believed. You are the expert on your condition.

Second, it can help you learn to get out of your head, stop comparing yourself to others or your previous self, and provide a connection and a path forward towards the things that really matter to you.

And third, it helps support behavioral changes such as activity pacing to ensure you aren't stuck in a cycle of pushing yourself too hard and then suffering the consequences. 

ACT for chronic pain and chronic illness has been studied and proven to help. Because while it can't cure your physical health, it can help alleviate the mental health aspects that are making it worse.