DEvelopmental Trauma
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” —Carl Jung
The environment and relationships we grew up in as children often set the framework for how we interact in the world as adults. Without reflection and processing of our early experiences, these expectations and ways of relating can deeply and unconsciously impact us. The patients I see often have not explored much underneath the surface of their symptoms. They have personal, relational, and career goals they find themselves not able to meet, despite their best efforts. They may find themselves dating the same type of person they know is not good for them. Or they may find themselves reacting to their children, partner, or boss in ways they don’t want to. Whatever the issue, the patients I see often feel stuck and at a loss of how to change. Many patients I see note that the type of therapy I facilitate with them finally addresses the underlying roots of their issues that other attempts at therapy have only scratched the surface. Integrating object relations, relational psychoanalysis, attachment, neuroscience, and internal family systems theories, I help patients make deeper sense of their present situation in ways that allow for shifts in functioning. Together we make sense of their internal world and the various messages they received as children (i.e., beliefs they have about themselves and others, etc.). We explore and access the different parts of them, such as the ones that may be frozen in the past and the ones they may have learned to disavow; and together we compassionately witness the experiences of these parts and integrate them into the whole person. Such integration and relating differently with these various parts allows for increased consciousness, as opposed to automatic reactivity that typically prevents people from living the life they desire.
Looking within and to the past can be scary and difficult, but it can also be elucidating and life changing. College Students
College can be an exciting time for students, but it can also be one that is quite challenging. Whether you’re going to a community college in the same town you grew up in or a 4-year university across the country, college is a time when teens and young adults are trying to figure out their own way, trying to figure out who they are, and trying to figure out who they want to be–all in the middle of taking difficult courses, navigating new friendships and romantic relationships, and often having a part-time job. Not to mention, many students enter college with pre-existing stressors, such as mental health issues, family concerns, financial difficulties, etc. Today’s college students over the last several years have also had to face the unique challenges of a global pandemic, racial injustice, and the impact of social media, which has altogether contributed to the CDC’s declaring a national mental health crisis among adolescents. Needless to say, to be a college student in this day and age is no simple feat. My passion as a clinical psychologist is to come alongside such college students and support them in this exhilarating yet difficult phase of life. As someone outside of both their friend group and their family, I provide a safe space for students to process whatever they may be going through and to develop ways to manage and reduce their mental health struggles. Having worked at several college counseling centers over the years (the University of Rochester, Boston College, and Azusa Pacific University), I have found working with college students to be both rewarding for me and pivotal for them, as they reflect, explore, reimagine, and redefine who they are and who they want to be in the world. While I am a depth-oriented therapist and will thus help college students "dig deep," I also have years of experience teaching practical skills to clients needing emotion regulation support using DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) and mindfulness-based approaches. My experience working with college students includes supporting students of diverse backgrounds (i.e., BIPOC, queer, international students, etc.) and presenting issues (i.e., homesickness, anxiety, depression, childhood trauma, sexual assault, failure to launch, etc.). However you identify and whatever you’re experiencing, I am happy to see how I can best help you on your journey in authenticity and wellbeing.
Anxiety
I work well with patients who experience anxiety and who have a difficult time down-regulating their emotions. Anxiety can look differently for many people. It may show up in your body (i.e., rapid heart rate, sweating, tenseness), in your cognitions (i.e., persistent worrying, self doubt, etc.), and in your mood (i.e., irritable, fatigued, etc.); but it can also show up in behaviors we might not expect, such as perfectionism, procrastination, withdrawal, and overeating. However patients experience their anxiety and whatever their anxiety is about (i.e., generalized anxiety, social anxiety, performance anxiety, anticipatory anxiety, etc.), I support clients by helping them understand the deeper roots of their anxiety, help them regulate their emotions, and help them learn new ways of relating to the anxiety-provoking stimuli.