I am a psychodynamically trained, attachment-oriented psychotherapist who specializes in addiction, trauma, somatic psychotherapy, suicide prevention, and risk management. I provide supervision, consultation and direct clinical care. I am dedicated to Organic Inner Work® because I know people can and do heal from devastating circumstances and that talk therapy is not always enough, nor does it address the root of the problem as it is exists in the body.

While I am trained in a lot of different treatment modalities, my lens is guided by my advanced training in trauma physiology, somatic work, motivational interviewing and internal family systems. My social work background informs my work through social justice and anti-oppression perspectives. This means I engage in the work of helping others with an understanding of the privilege and power I have received along the way, the power dynamics inherent in the therapeutic relationship and the social responsibility I have to serve those around me in ways that align with their needs and self-empowerment. I love working with a person’s strengths as a powerful tool in helping them get unstuck and moving in the direction of a more fulfilling life.

A Bit of My Background that Lead me To Here…

I am one of those people who knew early on that I wanted to be a therapist. In college, while majoring in Psychology (and English!) I volunteered at the local crisis line answering calls, and quickly graduated to helping transport women who had experienced sexual assault to hospital settings. I was also the President of my honor’s chapter in Psychology and responsible for hosting community events that highlighted mental health. I became a manager on the weekends for a women’s shelter where women and children went to escape abusive environments.

After undergraduate studies, I became a research coordinator at a university and spent long hours in the public school system testing kids with learning disabilities on a range of batteries (intelligence, math, reading) to help determine best ways to teach them how to read. On the weekends, I managed a group home for adults with major psychiatric diagnoses for nearly 10 years, and for a short period spent a year working in a day program for adults with developmental and cognitive disabilities. With my background and research experience in Psychology, I discovered my true passion for social justice perspectives in the mental health field and ultimately chose to attend a program that worked from an anti-racist and anti-oppression model of healing that acknowledges collective, systemic and institutionalized oppressions that occur in society and to people individually.

I began my graduate studies at Smith College where I received my master’s in clinical social work. As soon as I graduated, I spent the next 3 intensive years learning about trauma physiology in different settings around the country, and practicing somatic experiencing on myself and other clinicians while working full time in outpatient settings as a therapist, primarily for marginalized groups that did not have a lot of access to care. The somatic work I was learning was a game changer in terms of what I had learned and the results I was getting working with individuals who had severe trauma histories. These were adults who had been in and out of therapy most of their lives.

By then, I had experience working in an inpatient dual diagnosis unit for addiction and psychiatric disability, outpatient and residential treatment settings, supervising clinicians toward licensure, acting as a thesis advisor for a graduate program, and focusing my treatment practice specifically on addiction and trauma.

Why both trauma and addiction? Both can create extreme states in the body and nervous system, both are areas where my training works well with nervous system regulation, changing patterns, and moving toward a life that is optimal.

I began working with Veterans in the government sector to provide trauma and general therapy in an outpatient setting where I provided groups, family, couples and individual treatment. I received a majority of evidence based training programs during this time and had the opportunity to apply somatic work when those approaches failed, or as an adjunct to enhancing the work we did that was more evidence based, or what we call “top down” processing work. What I learned is that it is not that these standard traditional approaches offered in formal settings did not help, it is rather they usually were not enough. So, I began the process of blending different modalities and realized what so many pioneers have already known: therapy is not one size fits all, and it really is important to know how to listen, observe, and then apply skillfully interventions that are most effective for each unique person with their unique circumstances. This requires an eclectic approach!

Working with intense emotional states, I developed a great interest in suicide prevention specialization and risk management. With advanced training, I began serving as a consultant and trainer in suicide prevention.

As the founder of Organic Inner Work, I am excited to bring the great training and experience I’ve had working alongside some stellar somatic leaders, doctors and clinicians to this space. I also bring my experience with humans individually as a powerful learning tool for understanding what does and does not work, and why! At Organic Inner Work, we transform lives individually through the power of accessing one’s own inner strength and healing, which is the organic inner work in all of us.