My start in therapy was bumpy, I was a junior in college, a captain on my soccer team, and managing the loss of a friend… I was afraid of my emotions–particularly my grief, my sexuality, and how to reconcile the differences in between the pressures of who others thought I was and who I really was and who wanted to be. I felt misunderstood and like my experiences were wrong or shameful when I sat across from my suit wearing, clip-board holding, stern therapist who began by giving me a talking-to that “I had to get things together.”

I fled the room at the end of the hour with my negative self-talk spiraling, feeling shame and that I couldn’t trust my therapist or even myself. My walls stayed up for some time longer and through some literal mountain-top experiences working in therapeutic communities, I came to accept my sexuality, my grief, my emotions, and decided to commit to the thing I was afraid of becoming a therapist.

As a therapist, I center understanding, self-determination, self-expression, intersectionality, community, empathy, and harm reduction at the heart of my work. As a human, I know that life is hard and I know that I need community and safe space to process those things. I find joy in the complexity of dialectics and in my work I balance seriousness and play, confrontation and care, and grief and joy. I believe in the power of finding joy, contentment, justice, and beauty through acceptance.

I work with adolescents (15 and up) to adults. I believe that trust is the foundation of our relationship and from there we will build towards the destination of your values and goals. I believe that therapy is about establishing a collaborative and healthy relationship to make change towards a healthier version of you. We will work to connect and develop understanding to begin to explore your strengths, needs, goals, and self, relationships, and values. We will be co-creators of your therapeutic experience and values working in a relationship to explore and empower change, growth, and self-acceptance.