I offer a free 15 minute phone consultation to discuss your therapy goals and how I can help you. Click here to contact me!
I offer a free 15 minute phone consultation to discuss your therapy goals and how I can help you. Click here to contact me!
Anxiety is a normal part of the human experience that will occur from time to time. Oftentimes our ability to regulate and function properly is inhibited by an Anxiety Disorder. In sessions, we work to identify triggers to anxiety, maladaptive behaviors and underlying beliefs, and work to implement strategies so that your core self is making decisions, not your anxious self. I utilize a blend of techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/ERP, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness, and Internal Family Systems to name a few, to treat Generalized Anxiety, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety, and Specific Phobias.
I am a certified Prolonged Exposure Therapist, which is an evidenced based treatment for those struggling with PTSD or anyone who has experienced trauma. Many people experience depression, anxiety, panic, hypervigilance, interpersonal problems, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and patterns of avoidance. Prolonged Exposure (PE) is a way to revisit your trauma in a safe and structured environment. We will identify behavioral changes you want to make, process the traumatic memory or memories, and effectively decrease your symptoms of PTSD so that you can feel calmer, safer, and happier again. Individuals who have completed PE report a reduction of symptoms within 8-12 sessions.
The phrase “I have OCD” gets thrown around quite frequently, and although it is a common disorder, those who struggle with OCD truly know how debilitating this disorder can be in their daily life. OCD involves patterns of obsessive or ruminating thoughts, compulsive behaviors or “rituals”, all of which gradually take us away from the life we want, giving us a false sense of certainty in our ability to control an outcome. OCD presents in many forms: Contamination (germs or emotional contamination), Harm (unwanted thoughts of hurting ourselves or others), Violent/Sexual obsessions (sometimes with assault or pedophile themes), Sensorimotor Obsessions, Relationship or Existential, and Counting and Checking rituals. I have extensive training in Exposure and Response Prevention, which is a form of cognitive behavioral treatment internationally acknowledged as the gold standard treatment for OCD.
Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors is a term for a group of disorders such as hair-pulling (trichotillomania), skin-picking, nail and lip biting, and other self-grooming related behaviors. While most people have grooming related behaviors that occasionally cause distress, suffering from a BFRB means that you develop urges to continue pull or pick at various parts of your body until it causes physical damage and you are unable to stop, despite desperately wanting to. Individuals suffering from BFRBs may also experience shame, avoidance, concurrent anxiety and depression, and all around inability to cope with the continued urges. These tension reducing behaviors typically develop during adolescence (but can be present during childhood) and can occur off-and-on throughout one’s life. BFRBs are often present with other mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, panic, OCD, and perfectionism. Treatment for BFRBs is comprehensive: we will focus on awareness training, competing response training, and identify the cognitive, sensory, mood, and environmental patterns that contribute to this behavior.
As a certified Prolonged Exposure Therapist and Supervisor, I am able to provide supervision for other therapists who have completed the PE certification training. This includes the required supervision for the first two cases as needed to complete certification, as well as on-going consultation for PE cases. Contact me to talk more about PE supervision.