Just where you are, that’s the place to start.
-Pema Chodron
Me & My Values
I am a licensed clinical social worker, providing teletherapy services to the entire state of Michigan. This is my home state and I love living here. I am committed to providing services across the state as I know first hand how difficult it can be to access services, especially if you live in a rural community.
I have Master’s Degrees in Social Work and Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan. Over the years, I have held clinical and administrative roles within the University of Michigan, Washtenaw County, Michigan Medicine, and the Veterans Health Administration. My first love is working one on one with clients to help them transform their lives. I am a founding faculty member of the Michigan Mindfulness Lab at Michigan Medicine. Our work at the lab is focused on exploring the ways in which mindfulness practices create changes in the brain to support wellness and healing.
Our work together starts with a thorough assessment of where you are now and where you’d like to be. We will use strategies and methodologies that fit your unique goals and needs. I am trained in EMDR and trauma-based interventions as well as cognitive-behavioral interventions, such as CBT and ACT. We may choose to focus on mindfulness-based interventions or compassion-focused therapy depending on your particular concerns.
I am profoundly aware that any individual work we do is happening within a broader social context. Your unique context may include oppression, social isolation, toxic relationships, gender dynamics, or societal pressures. We are all living embedded within a colonialist/capitalist framework that brings its own challenges: daily racism and microaggressions, intergenerational trauma, climate anxiety, ancestral displacement, religious trauma, and profound social stratification. It’s no wonder that as a culture we are living with unprecedented mental health needs. If you’re feeling crazy, it might not be you! Our work in therapy will help you to understand what role our culture plays in your struggles and find ways to empower yourself within your context to take action that supports your values.
How can therapy help?
You’re feeling lost and stuck. Burned out. You’ve tried to think your way through problems. If thinking was going to work, you’d be feeling better by now. You may have difficulty connecting with your needs, your body, or a sense of worthiness. That frustration has led you here, looking for someone to help you make sense of it all. We will work together to understand your current challenges and the important contextual factors of your life. Together, we will work to create change that moves you closer to the life you want.
During the course of our work together, my clients have reconnected with their values to help them make important life decisions. We have untangled the effects of trauma, learned to set more effective boundaries, and processed the helplessness of climate anxiety. Over the years, I have seen significant changes take place organically once we are able to address the blocks to healing. This is not to say that therapy isn’t hard work at times: it is. You must be willing to make some changes. Therapy should also be a safe container that holds you and your emotions while the work of healing takes place. Our work will happen within the safe and respectful relationship that we will build together.