My Approaches
-
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
When we decide to work together, you will find us cultivating awareness and connection to your body and creating a way of being in relationship that maximizes the possibility of healing and well-being.
We welcome the body as an integral source of information which can guide resourcing and the accessing and processing of challenging, traumatic, and developmental experience. SP is a holistic approach that includes somatic, emotional, and cognitive processing and integration.
-
IFS (Internal Family System)
IFS is a transformative tool that conceives of every human being as a system of protective and wounded inner parts led by a core Self. We believe the mind is naturally multiple and that is a good thing. Just like members of a family, inner parts are forced from their valuable states into extreme roles within us. Self is in everyone. It can’t be damaged. It knows how to heal.
-
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
EMDR is a non-invasive, evidence-based method of psychotherapy that helps victims recover from the effects of psychological trauma through adaptive information processing. We comprehensively identify and address experiences that have overwhelmed the brain’s natural resilience or coping capacity, thereby generating traumatic symptoms and/or harmful coping strategies.
-
Hypnosis
Hypnosis creates shifts in consciousness that enables us to tap into many of our natural abilities and allows us to make change more quickly. It allows space for leveraging mental imagery for transformation, presenting impactful suggestions in a state of focused attention, and enabling unconscious exploration to unveil underlying motivations.
-
Sandplay
Sandplay therapy involves the use of a tray of sand and a variety of miniature figures, symbols, and objects. In this method, you create a "world" in the sand by arranging and manipulating the items to represent your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The process allows us to express and explore our inner world in a non-verbal way, providing a unique and symbolic form of expression within a safe container.
-
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the identification, acknowledgment, comprehension, expression, and resolution of adverse and conflicting emotions, as well as suppressed feelings. We work to enhance your interpersonal encounters and relationships by shedding light on the impact of past repressed emotions on present decision-making, behavior, and relationships.
Are we a good fit?
-
You are open to work with your body: You are curious to explore how our bodies hold stress and trauma, not just talking about your thoughts.
You want to get to the root: You are ready to gently explore how your past experiences, early relationships and cultural upbringings are impacting your present. You have a curiosity towards yourself.
You are seeking deep, lasting change: You aren't just looking for quick fix, but a meaningful transformation in how you relate to yourself and the world.
You are open to creative or holistic approaches: You are interested in experimenting with different bottom-up modalities, whether through parts work (IFS), dreamwork, nature, art, play, spiritual exploration, or more.
You are ready to be a collaborative partner in your healing: You view therapy as a shared journey, not a place to simply receive advice or instructions. You are ready for something to change, and you are motivated to work.
-
You are looking for strictly structured, thought-based therapy (like standard CBT): If you primarily want guidance on how to think “correctly”, worksheets, specific homework, and behavioral tracking, my approach may feel too fluid for you.
You want someone with authority to "fix" things or give direct advice: I believe your deepest wisdom is already inside you; my role is to help you access it and uncover your own agency, not to tell you what to do. I do not believe I know the “best course of action” in your life, nor can I provide that answer confidently.
You prefer to focus only on the present: If you are strongly opposed to looking at how the past influences your current life, my depth-oriented approach won't align with your goals. If your main goal is to set future-oriented productivity goals, or focus strictly on changing your current habits without exploring the past or the body, my approach will likely feel too slow and exploratory for you.
You are not ready for change: You are looking for someone to just sit back and listen without processing, exploration or intervention. My approach is gentle and compassionate, but not passive.
Read through this and feel like we might not be the right fit? That is completely okay. Therapy is an intimate exploration, and there is a therapist out there whose specific style will be exactly what you need. I share these lists upfront to honor both of our time, energy, and your right to choose a clinician whose approach truly resonates with you.
-
I am not able to support those in acute, active crisis needing a higher level of care more than weekly individual therapy.
I am not able to provide any FMLA or medical leave paperwork for those who are not my existing client.
Trainings & Certifications
I love learning and regularly attend trainings to deepen my understanding of the healing practices.
Currently enrolled in: the International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation Professional Training Program
-
Somatic Therapy
2025:
Voice Keeps the Score
Linda Thai
2023:
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Treatment of Trauma
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute
EMDR Level 1
Trauma Recovery HAP
2022:
Safe and Sound Protocol
Certificate in Somatic Embodiment & Regulation Strategies
Linda Thai
-
Parts Work & Experiential Therapy
2025:
Internal Family Systems Level 1
IFS Institute
2024:
Nature-Based Therapy
Cascadia Training
2023:
Clinical Hypnosis Level 1
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
2022:
Sandplay with Adults
Linda Cunningham, Ph.D., MFT
-
Couples & Relational Work
2026:
Fundamentals of Emotionally Focused Therapy
ICEEFT
Externship in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
VCEFT
-
Other Modalities
2022
Foundations of DBT Therapy
Mindful Self-Compassion