Individual Therapy
55-minutes, $175 investment
I want you to know that you are enough. That you aren't perfect, but that you don't have to be. That your unique way of being in this world is exactly what the world needs. I want to help you create a relationship with yourself that is one of respect, compassion, trust, and love.
In individual therapy, we will examine the messages that you implicitly and explicitly have been told (and tell yourself). I will help you develop a more loving and gentle relationship with yourself. I work mostly with young women, but anyone of any age can benefit from a more compassionate relationship with self. Below are a few areas in which I specialize, though my work spans a number of different topics.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a sense of worry, dread, nervousness or panic. Sometimes it shows up in our thoughts ("Why did I say that?" "Am I annoying?" "No one wants me here."), sometimes in our emotions (a sinking feeling, a feeling of doom, awkwardness), and sometimes in our bodies (sweaty palms, a racing heart, nausea). Sound familiar?
For a lot of people, any sense of anxiety kicks off a spiral of anxious thinking that we try to stop/shut down/ignore, but this usually makes it worse. We will instead turn toward your anxious part and get to know it. When we stop running away from our anxiety, it stops feeling like it's about to overtake us. We will use mindfulness skills and compassion to identify problematic thought patterns and change how you respond.
Perfectionism
We are surrounded by a lot of messages in this world that we need to look, be, think a certain way. After a while, all of those external messages can become internalized, causing us to hold ourselves to impossible standards and berate ourselves when we miss the mark. Sometimes we even begin to think we are less deserving of respect, kindness, patience, love, and care and we notice ourselves in relationships and surrounded by people who don't make us feel good.
Perfectionist tendencies often come with an inner voice who acts like a critic or a bully to get you to behave a certain way. While well-intentioned, this sometimes-not-so-little voice is actually sabotaging you! Instead of silencing this part of you, we will get to know it and understand it, inviting it to participate in your life in a different way. By changing your relationship to yourself in this way, we create more compassion in your life and free of you of the restrictive and impossible expectation that you must be perfect.
Self-Criticism
"You're so lazy." "That was so awkward, they hate you." "Why do you even bother?"
Does this sound familiar? Many of us have an internal dialogue that narrates our days, our memories, and our worries. It's our constant companion. Yet without realizing it, many of us are beating ourselves up, often in the name of making myself better or motivating myself. But does this really work?
Time after time again, practicing meanness only serves to deteriorate your sense of self. We can't grow and develop if we believe there is something truly wrong with us on the inside. Together, we will learn to pay attention to the way you speak to yourself and invite more self-compassion and patience to your inner dialogue. We'll get to know your inner critic and what it really wants for you and give you tools to reach your goals in a way that uplifts you rather than puts you down.
“You are not a mistake. You are not a problem to be solved. But you won’t discover this until you are willing to stop banging your head against the wall of shaming and caging and fearing yourself.”