Trauma & Relational Trauma

I work with all kinds of relational trauma: childhood experiences, narcissistic relationships, religious environments, difficult family dynamics, emotionally unsafe relationships, and the ways we learn to adapt to the people around us.

One of the biggest misconceptions about trauma is that it has to be dramatic or obvious. Sometimes trauma looks much quieter. It can show up as chronic people-pleasing, overthinking, shutting down, difficulty saying no, feeling responsible for everyone else's emotions, second-guessing yourself, or having no idea what you actually want or need.

We often make sense of those patterns by looking at what you learned about yourself and other people along the way, and whether those lessons still belong in your life now.

Spiritual & Religious Trauma

The church has been a source of love, community, meaning, and belonging for many people. It has also been a source of deep pain for others. Sometimes both are true at the same time, which can make leaving or rethinking your beliefs incredibly complicated.

People leaving high-control religious environments may be grieving their community, questioning beliefs they once built their lives around, or realizing how little room they had for boundaries, individuality, or even their own thoughts. They may feel lost without the structure they grew up with and unsure what they actually believe anymore.

I offer a judgment-free place to work through that process. We can make room for the grief, anger, confusion, and fear while you sort through what you want to keep, what you want to leave behind, and what you want your life to look like now.

That work can include learning to set boundaries, rebuilding trust in yourself, finding new community, and figuring out how to move through the world when so much of what once felt certain has changed.

High Control Religious & Family Systems

Growing up in a high-control family can make it difficult to know where other people's needs and expectations end and you begin.

You may have learned early that keeping a parent happy was more important than checking in with yourself. As an adult, that can show up as difficulty making decisions, needing reassurance, feeling guilty when someone is unhappy with you, avoiding conflict, overexplaining yourself, or feeling responsible for keeping relationships stable.

A lot of our work is about rebuilding trust in yourself. That can mean learning what you're actually responsible for, setting boundaries, and understanding the difference between a boundary and trying to control someone else's behavior. We work on tolerating the uncomfortable moments that come with doing things differently and, over time, creating new ways of responding.

Relationships, Attachments, & Boundaries

I often work with people who understand other people better than they understand themselves. They are quick to offer grace and understanding to everyone else but have very little for themselves. They know how to meet everyone else's needs and may have no idea what their own are.

Many are carrying the mental, emotional, and physical load in their relationships and wondering why things aren't changing.

Boundaries can be incredibly freeing. Part of the work is learning that you are responsible for yourself, not everyone else in the room. When you stop trying to manage another person's emotions or behavior, you have a lot more room to pay attention to your own.

That can change relationships in pretty significant ways. You can make decisions without constantly anticipating someone else's reaction, communicate more honestly, and stop organizing your life around keeping everyone else comfortable.

Life Transitions & Identity

Even a transition you wanted can leave you feeling unsettled. Something may turn out differently than you expected, be harder than you imagined, or ask more of you than you were prepared for.

Wanting a change and being ready for what comes with it are two different things. Sometimes we don't know what we need to prepare for until we're already in the middle of it. And it can be surprisingly hard to admit that the thing you were working toward isn't feeling the way you thought it would.

When clients tell me, “I don't know who I am anymore,” we start by looking at what got buried along the way. Parent, partner, teacher, daughter, son, coworker—sometimes the role becomes so big that other parts of us get pushed to the side.

We spend time reconnecting with those parts, getting clear on your values, and figuring out what it looks like to actually live in alignment with them.

Women's Mental Health & Life Transitions

Major life transitions have a way of exposing the coping strategies we've been using for years.

Sometimes the strategies that helped you get through childhood, early adulthood, motherhood, or other difficult seasons aren't working anymore. You may find yourself people-pleasing, minimizing your needs, struggling to say no, or wondering why you're suddenly having such a hard time holding everything together.

Postpartum, motherhood, perimenopause, and menopause can all bring those patterns to the surface.

We can look at what's underneath them, figure out what still serves you, and work on ways of responding that fit the person you are now.

Neurodivergence & Self-Understanding

I work with neurodivergent adults who have spent years being told they're too much, too lazy, too sensitive, too disorganized, or simply not trying hard enough.

By adulthood, those messages can become part of the way you see yourself. You may know intellectually that you're capable, but still feel like you're constantly failing at things that seem easy for everyone else.

I don't want to spend our time trying to shave off your edges so you can fit into a system that wasn't designed with you in mind. We can look at how your brain actually works, figure out what gets in your way, and build systems and coping strategies that fit you.

I'm neurodivergent myself, so this is something I understand personally as well as professionally. I know what it is like to have to figure out how to work within systems that weren't built for you. A big part of my work is helping clients develop more grace for themselves and a better understanding of what they actually need.

Narcissistic Abuse Recovery

I use the term “narcissistic abuse” to describe patterns such as manipulation, control, gaslighting, blame-shifting, emotional invalidation, intimidation, and the gradual erosion of another person's sense of reality and self-trust.

People often come to therapy knowing something was wrong but still questioning whether they are “allowed” to call it harmful. Others have spent so long being blamed and second-guessed that they assume they must be the problem.

Recovery involves more than understanding what happened. We work on trusting your own judgment again, recognizing manipulation sooner, setting limits, and making decisions without constantly anticipating someone else's reaction.

Over time, the goal is for your life to stop revolving around managing another person's behavior. Depending on the situation, that may include learning to disengage, use low-conflict communication, reduce contact, or step away from the relationship entirely.