What is Individual Therapy?
What Is Individual Therapy?
Here's my hunch about why you're here.
You want to feel heard and understood without judgment — but that's not all. You want to actually change old patterns of behavior and relationships. You want to get to the root of things. You know it's going to take some time, and you've decided you're worth it.
So where do you start?
1. The relationship comes first.
You won't be "going to therapy" — you'll be seeing a therapist. Therapy is a human relationship, and your relationship with your therapist is the single most important factor in whether your time together is worthwhile. This is personal. Trust your gut. If you can imagine building real trust with someone, they're probably a good fit.
2. Most approaches to therapy work the same way under the hood.
There are countless therapeutic modalities, but researchers have identified a common thread: change happens through new emotional experiences. Old ways of experiencing yourself and others get revisited in therapy — but this time, in healthier, more adaptive ways. Over time, this reconsolidates old emotional patterns into new ways of being and relating. You experientially learn to sit with uncomfortable emotions, reframe unhelpful thoughts, and show up differently in relationships.
3. Here's how I work specifically.
I weave together classic psychology — psychodynamic and humanistic foundations — with trauma-informed, body-based (somatic) approaches. In practice, that means I hold a few core beliefs:
Your past is alive in your present. It shapes you in ways that are often outside your awareness. Making those patterns conscious is central to healing.
You have an innate capacity for growth. I trust where you want to focus — that instinct is usually pointing somewhere important.
Unresolved trauma disrupts everything. Big-T or small-t, trauma affects your nervous system, your emotional regulation, and your ability to connect. Learning to ground yourself and befriend your nervous system is key.
Your body keeps the score. Talk therapy matters — but real healing often means going deeper than words, building internal trust, and working from the body up.
Here’s my view of mental well-being in a single phrase: The ability to feel our feelings fully and use them to engage with ourselves and others as we build a life of meaning and purpose.
If this approach resonates with you,
