About

I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington state and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the states of Oregon and Wyoming. I’m a good fit if you want a therapist who both accepts your process when you need to talk things out, but who will also coach you in specific tools and techniques for feeling better, performing better, and flourishing. Clients tell me that they like that I balance accepting their process with patience whilst actively providing the tools for change and the push for change when needed.

I specialize in applying the tools, techniques, and knowledge of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Positive Psychology to assist adults with fostering better relationships, improving quality of life, and increasing capacity for resilience in the face of setbacks and trauma. I also assist my clients to access their unique character strengths, experience more positive emotions, and deepen their sense of meaning, and engagement in their daily lives.

I believe that people change and grow by developing opportunities and resources more than by merely managing problems. Treatment may assist you to identify, build, and utilize your strengths. Treatment may also help you to improve your relationships and your ability to relate to other people and to yourself.

What you do outside of treatment in your daily life will be as important in fostering change and promoting healing as the work we do in our meetings.

METHODS AND THERAPEUTIC ORIENTATION

- DBT-informed treatment: DBT consists of the technology of change (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) and the technology of acceptance (skills for building awareness, commonly referred to as "mindfulness").
- Positive Psychology: clinical tools, techniques and interventions derived from the empirical study of well-being, attachment, meaning, flourishing, resilience, and achievement.
- Interpersonal Neurobiology: Many clients find it easier to understand skills for managing stress, emotions, addictions, and relationships when these are explained within the context of the brain works; you might find it easier to relate to therapy when it is explained in terms of the brain and the nervous system.
- EMDR: EMDR promotes the efficient and safe processing of disturbing memories and emotions.

Effective counseling depends on the quality of the relationship that a counselor establishes with you. As a counselor, I commit to the following: to seek to understand your perspective; listen for your most important concerns; accept you without judgement; respect your freedom and autonomy; follow you in determining the goals of your recovery; honor your ideas, your timing, and your pace of change especially when you have moments of doubt and indecision.