You are the expert of your own experience. As your therapist, I am here to listen closely to understand what you are experiencing as best as I can and will check-in with you to make sure we are on the same page. Then, once we have a shared understanding of what you would like to achieve in therapy, I will offer suggestions that I have seen work for other patients.

We will discover what works together. Fortunately, there are many skills to help people struggling with intense emotions and relationships. Of course, not every skill works for everyone. As your therapist, I simply ask for your willingness to try out different skills as we learn together what works best for you.

Your time is valuable to me. I take an approach that leads to meaningful improvements in your life. That is why I am committed to using “evidence-based approaches,” meaning I will make clinical decisions based on the best available research. For this reason, I usually use techniques from motivational interviewing, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and dialectical behavior therapy.

Data-driven treatment progress monitoring. Once we have identified your treatment goals, we will devise a plan to achieve them together and measure your progress using tools (e.g., questionnaires) developed by leading researchers. By routinely collecting data about your symptoms and behaviors, we will be able to determine if our plan is working as expected. If we discover things are not improving, we will try something different. If we discover you have achieved your treatment goals, we will discuss ending our work together.

Therapy is a place where you can be yourself. Period.

We unfortunately live in a society where we are taught to make judgments about ourselves and others, including how we/others should feel, think, and behave in various situations. These judgments often intensify emotional responses, getting in the way of our ability to communicate effectively and to achieve our goals.

As your therapist, I aim to provide a space where you feel comfortable disclosing aspects of yourself that are difficult to talk about.

All behavior has context - it’s caused.

I am guided by the DBT principle that “all behavior is caused”, even if I do not know the reason. For example, I understand that self-harm is a powerful method of providing short-term relief from emotional pain and communicating distress to others, so it makes sense why this happens.. As your therapist, I take a nonjudgmental, curious stance as we explore what factors motivate you to engage in behaviors you want to change and identify ways to interrupt this process.