Narrative Therapy

The stories we tell ourselves about who we are matter deeply. Throughout our lives, we inherit and construct stories based on our experiences, cultural expectations, and the feedback of others. Often, when we feel stuck, it is because we have become dominated by a "problem-saturated" story—a narrative that tells us we are broken, inadequate, or defined entirely by our struggles.

Narrative Therapy is a collaborative, respectful approach that sees you as the ultimate expert on your own life. The foundational principle of this work is simple yet profound: You are not the problem. The problem is the problem.

By separating your true identity from the challenges you are facing, we create the psychological space needed to examine those challenges objectively, without shame or self-blame.

What to Expect in a Session

In our work together, we will deliberately slow down to look at your life history with fresh, compassionate eyes. This is a deeply collaborative process where we will:

• Engage in Curious Questioning: We will explore your experiences through questions that open up new perspectives. Instead of relying on old, critical conclusions about your flaws or failures, we will look at your story in ways that unearth forgotten strengths and moments of quiet resilience.

• Discover the Wisdom in Your Responses: We will look closely at how you survived and navigated difficult life events and notice how your unique ways of responding reflect your true values, your inner knowledge, and your deeply held beliefs.

• Separate Identity from External Systems: We will explore your identity separate from the powerful systems, family expectations, or cultural narratives that have shaped and pressured you.

• Reclaim Your Story: By untangling who you are from the problems you have faced, we clear a safe space to reconnect with your own authentic vision for your life, allowing you to author your next chapter on your own terms.

Parts Work & Inner System Healing

Have you ever said to yourself, "A part of me wants to make a big change, but another part of me is absolutely terrified"?

This common experience reflects a profound truth about human psychology: our minds are not monolithic. We are made up of different "parts," each with its own feelings, motivations, and protective strategies. When we experience chronic stress, childhood adversity, or trauma, these parts can become polarized, extreme, or stuck in ancient survival roles (like the harsh inner critic, the people-pleaser, or the part that numbs out).

Parts Work—scientifically known as Ego State Therapy—is a compassionate approach that helps you get to know these internal aspects of yourself. Instead of viewing your conflicting impulses or self-sabotaging behaviors as flaws, we view them as well-intentioned, protective parts of your system that are simply exhausted or overwhelmed.

My Approach: TIST and IFS-Informed Care

In my practice, I guide parts work using a specialized, trauma-informed lens. My approach is rooted in:

• TIST (Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment - Level 1): I am Level 1 trained in this advanced somatic framework developed by Dr. Janina Fisher. TIST specifically helps us decode self-destructive or addictive behaviors not as failures of will, but as survival parts trying desperately to keep you safe.

• IFS-Informed Concepts: I integrate the core concepts of Internal Family Systems (IFS), helping you approach your most vulnerable or defensive parts with curiosity and deep compassion.

• Ego State Integration: We work to help your different internal states communicate effectively, allowing your wiser, adult self to safely lead your life today.

What to Expect in a Session

Working with your inner parts is a gentle, deeply revealing process. Together, we will:

• Map Your System: Identify the specific internal parts that are currently driving your anxiety, burnout, or relationship patterns.

• De-escalate Internal Conflicts: Mediate the battles between parts that disagree (such as the part that wants to rest versus the part that demands perfection).

• Extend Compassion Inward: Help your protective parts realize that you are safe in the present moment, allowing them to finally step down from their exhausting survival roles.

Sometimes, talking about our problems isn’t enough. We may intellectually understand why we feel anxious, why a certain relationship pattern keeps repeating, or where our stress comes from—yet the physical feeling of overwhelm remains unchanged.

This happens because trauma, chronic stress, and emotional wounds do not just live in our thoughts. They live in our bodies. When we experience overwhelming events, our nervous system can get stuck in survival modes like fight, flight, or freeze. No amount of logical thinking can simply "talk" the nervous system into feeling safe again.

Noticing the Present Moment

Somatic work bridges the gap between mind and body. In our sessions, we slow down to track how your body feels in the present moment. Rather than just analyzing your past, we pay attention to physical cues: 

• A sudden tightness in your chest

• A shift in how you breathe

• A physical urge to pull away or shut down 

By learning to safely notice and gently stay with these physical sensations, we help your nervous system release stored tension, discharge old stress, and return to a baseline of true, felt safety.

Somatic Attachment Therapy

Our earliest relationships shape how we navigate connection, boundaries, and safety in adulthood. Because these formative relational bonds happen long before we develop complex language, our attachment styles are wired directly into our nervous system physiology.

An attachment injury is not simply an emotional conflict or a logical misunderstanding; it is a direct disruption to the body-mind's capacity to feel safe, secure, and consistently connected. When early environments lack consistency or safety, our bodies protectively adapt by storing deep-seated patterns of relationship anxiety, emotional numbness, or fierce hyper-independence.

Through body-centered attachment work, we don't just talk about your relationships—we repair the biological foundation of how you relate to others.

EMDR: Reprocessing Difficult and Traumatic Experiences

Traumatic events, difficult relationships, and chronic emotional distress can continue to affect us long after they have passed. Sometimes, a trigger in the present can bring back aspects of the past with surprising intensity—emotionally, physically, or both.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is an evidence-based, structured approach that can help reprocess distressing experiences, including trauma and earlier relational or attachment experiences. EMDR does not erase what happened; rather, it can reduce the emotional and physical intensity associated with difficult experiences, so that the past feels more like the past.

What to Expect in a Session

EMDR is an eight-phase approach, and memory processing is only one part of the work. We begin by understanding what brings you to therapy, identifying what you would like to work toward, and developing ways to stay grounded and supported. Depending on your needs and readiness, we may spend time building resources, exploring patterns and triggers, or preparing for reprocessing.

When we begin processing, you may focus on a particular memory, experience, or present-day trigger while using bilateral stimulation—typically alternating eye movements, taps, or sounds. You do not necessarily need to describe your experiences in detail. We work at a pace that feels manageable, and processing may involve memories, emotions, beliefs, body sensations, or connections that arise along the way.

Exactly how bilateral stimulation contributes to EMDR is still being studied. Research suggests that it may influence how we hold and experience distressing memories, including reducing their vividness and emotional intensity.

Together, we may work to:

• Desensitize Triggers: Reduce the intensity of the physical and emotional distress associated with a difficult memory, experience, or present-day trigger.

• Shift Negative Beliefs: Explore and reprocess beliefs that have become connected to difficult experiences, such as “I am unsafe” or “It was my fault,” and allow for more adaptive perspectives to emerge.

• Reconnect With the Present: Help your mind and body recognize that the danger has passed, so that past experiences have less power to shape how you experience the present.

An Attachment Lens: Understanding How We Connect

Our earliest relationships build the blueprint for how we navigate love, boundaries, and safety throughout our lives. Because these formative bonds happen long before we develop logic or language, our ways of relating are wired deeply into our nervous systems, our brains, and our inner emotional parts.

When we view your life through an Attachment Lens, we are not looking at your relationship patterns as permanent flaws or personality traits. Instead, we view them as creative, deeply intelligent ways your body and mind learned to protect you when connection felt inconsistent, overwhelming, or unsafe.

Whether you notice yourself constantly worrying about rejection, pulling away when someone gets too close, or feeling like you have to be entirely hyper-independent, we will explore these habits with immense warmth and zero judgment.

How We Weave This Lens into Our Work:

Because attachment patterns are deeply rooted, talking about them is rarely enough to change how they feel. In our sessions, we seamlessly integrate this relational lens through the other modalities in my practice:

• Somatic & Parts Exploration: We will gently track how relationship stress shows up physically in your body—like a tight chest or an urge to shut down—while learning to listen to the different internal "parts" of you that handle relationship fears (such as the parts that anxious-please or fiercely lock down your boundaries).

• Attachment-Focused EMDR: We can utilize specialized EMDR protocols specifically designed for attachment injuries. This allows us to safely process and gently unlock early, stuck memories of relational distress or loneliness, removing the painful emotional sting so your nervous system can finally feel safe connecting with others in the present.

• Rebuilding Secure Connection: By blending these approaches, we work to repair the biological foundation of how you relate to yourself and the world, allowing you to step out of old survival cycles and step into relationships rooted in true, felt ease and authenticity.