LGBTQI+ Affirming Psychotherapy

My primary clinical focus is providing safe, competent, and affirming trauma healing services to LGBTQI+ adults (18+), with a special focus on trans and gender nonconforming folks. I do not see minors, couples or families at this time. I utilize anti-oppression/feminist, harm reduction, somatic, and Health at Every Size® frameworks in my approach to psychotherapy.

Prior to entering clinical social work, I conducted field research from an “public interest anthropology” lens, interviewing trans and gender nonconforming individuals who had experienced hate crimes in an effort to document and raise awareness about transphobic violence and stigma in the United States. During my clinical training at the University of Chicago, I completed an LGBTQ Therapy Training program through my placement at Howard Brown Health Center’s Behavioral Health Department.

While I have historically provided long-term counseling, at this time I am focused on providing short-term trauma reprocessing and healing work. “Short-term,” can be a flexible definition that ranges from a few sessions to several months, depending on an individual’s needs. Short-term trauma treatment entails preparation, resourcing, reprocessing and integration phases. Treatment planning is a collaborative effort between you and I, and may involve one or more modalities that I am trained in: EMDR, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, depending on what your needs and preferences are for treatment.

My office space

For more information, check out EMDRIA’s introduction video about EMDR therapy.

What is EMDR?

EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based psychotherapy method that can help people heal from distressing life experiences, including PTSD, anxiety, depression, and panic disorders. EMDR is a highly structured treatment in which clients are invited to be with distressing/activating content while experiencing bilateral stimulation of the brain—either with rapid eye movements (the original form of EMDR), self-tapping, or by holding vibrating “tappers” in both hands. Research has shown that, combining the “being with” aspect with bilateral stimulation helps people to reduce the distressing “charge” of the memory/content they are suffering from, and allows them to connect to a more positive experience within themselves. In other words, the memory/content that used to trigger a cascade of distressing sensations, images, emotional and thoughts just doesn’t anymore.

What is Sensorimotor Psychotherapy?

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is a treatment approach developed by Pat Ogden, PhD. It draws from Hakomi, mindfulness, and Somatic Experiencing traditions. The philosophy behind SP is that the body carries its own memories of trauma and its own wisdom in how to heal from those traumas. I typically use SP as a way of better understanding and working with our bodies and nervous systems in our experiences of distress and our desire to feel more grounded.

A lot of SP work focuses on drawing attention to our somatic responses in session, to better understand what our bodies are communicating and how we can introduce resources that can help us feel safer and more present in our bodies. It is a highly collaborative process, and I often just weave SP into the other formats I use, like talk therapy, EMDR, or Internal Family Systems.

To learn more, check out Dr. Pat Ogden (creator of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy) describe some of the fundamental ideas behind this method.