I specialize in working with adults and teens (16+) in recovery from mental health conditions and life stressors. Some of these include anxiety, depression, ADHD, substance use disorders, eating disorders, loss, grief, life transitions, women's and LGBTQIA+ health issues and trauma.
I am an expert on anxiety and fear. I had Panic Disorder back in 1991. It was not pleasant with 3 trips to the emergency wards thinking I was having a heart attack. I was just starting to get involved with meditation, which in retrospect, made the anxiety worse. Then I discovered Breathwork. I found when I went into a deep Theta brainwave state that I could meditate fine after the breathwork session. Breathing from the diaphragm and belly help to reduce anxiety and fear. Holistic Integrated Breathing (HIB) also can lower blood pressure. Fear has often been referred as False Evidence Appearing Real. That is true most of the time with psychological fear. Psychological fear is coming from the past and is not usually real in the present moment. Physical fear on the other hand, jumping out of the way of a car, is real and we react to keep ourselves safe. I help and teach skills to determine and distinguish the difference between physical fear and psychological fear. Anxiety can be managed quite well when one learns how to do it. In Hypnotherapy we often have to extinguish fear from the past in our sessions for specific events that cause fight or flight. Anxiety is living in the future with all its unknowns.
When working with anxiety or fears, my goal is to provide some relief for symptoms while also helping you to develop a more in depth understanding of your own anxiety. For many people, this work will involve components of mindfulness work, while also working to shift your relationship with your anxiety.
CBT is an evidenced based practice, that has been proven to help many with managing their symptoms related to anxiety. Using this model of practice, I will be able to help guide you onto the road of control and tranquility.
Anxieties and fears express the distress of a unique individual and have unique meanings. I work to understand the meaning of the symptom in the context of the history and current life of the individual and proceed accordingly.
I see entering therapy as sacred work. I view relationships as our biggest vehicles of growth in life and believe every relationship has something that can be learned from it to help us embrace more of who we really are. I specialize in individual, couple and sex therapy, as well as trauma.
None of us is immune to anxiety and I believe we need a certain amount of anxiety in order to get out of bed each morning and to push ourselves to meet all that we have to accomplish in a given day. Balance, however, is essential. Too much anxiety immobilizes and stymies us, but too little can also create complications for motivation, productivity, goal-setting, and self-esteem.