My Approach
My Philosophy of Care
I am committed to helping my clients work through their challenges, worries and anxieties towards being able to navigate emotions, relationships, communication and life changes skillfully and with self compassion. I believe that each of us is the storyteller of our lives. You have authorship of the narrative of life events, defining your relationship to those things that have happened to you. My practice values the individual experiences of each person living in a complex world that places a person sometimes within systems they have little influence over but which have a great deal of influence over the person.
​
As a social worker I have been trained to understand the person in their environment, meaning that I consider not only what the person is struggling with on an individual level, but also the roles that systemic and institutional factors play in the person’s experience, as well as how our multiple identities intersect and lead us to experience a variety of privileges and/or oppressions.
Therapeutic Approaches
Narrative Therapy:
Narrative therapy aims to separate the individual from the problem, allowing for externalization of issues rather than internalize them. In Narrative therapy we rely on the individual’s own skills and sense of purpose to be the roadmap through difficult times. Throughout life our experiences become personal stories. We give these stories meaning, and the stories help shape our identity. Narrative therapy uses the power of these stories to explore personal challenges and identity and opens the opportunity to change the meaning of these stories in relationship to present life. You are the narrator of your life. Through narrative world view building we can identify the "problem" in in different contexts. These contexts may be social, political, and cultural. This can influence how we view ourselves and our personal stories to transform the effects of a problem.
​
Relational-Cultural Therapy:
Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT) brings relationships to the forefront of human psychology using concepts of connection and disconnection, as well as recognizing and exploring the social- cultural influence of larger culture and power differentials on the quality and nature of interpersonal relationships, relationship to place and relationship to self.
​
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:
Cognitive behavioral theory says that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all linked. Through examining thought patterns we can pinpoint ways that thoughts are impacting feelings and behaviors and thus change our behaviors and shift our thought patterns that then can indirectly bring about emotion change. If you can think or do differently, then you can feel differently. CBT is particularly effective with anxiety, OCD and challenges in relationships and communication.