Finding a counselor you love is like finding a great pair of jeans. Fit matters. Or if you’re a high achiever, maybe it’s like finding business clothes that feel like your own skin or like your favorite pair of jeans instead of a costume. It matters to me that we are a good fit for working together in therapy, because I know that personal exploration, growth and healing can only happen in safe spaces with safe people.

I take special pride in supporting adult clients who are overfunctioners or perfectionists in the face of stress, haven’t been given permission to have needs or set boundaries in their current or past relationships, those who demonstrate compassion towards others but have difficulty extending the same compassion to themselves, helping professionals (educators, counselors, nurses, first responders etc.), highly sensitive people (HSPs), those who wish to explore their relationship with drugs and/or alcohol, and survivors of sexual assault or trauma.

I provide individual counseling as a cognitive behavioral therapist, which means that we will explore together: 1) the meaning you assign to your experiences, 2) your emotional and physiological reactions to experiences, and 3) the things you do (behaviors) to either cope with or in reaction to those experiences. I also incorporate complementary techniques such as motivational enhancement, mindfulness, and interpersonal approaches. I am trained in and use Exposure and Ritual Prevention Therapy (ExRP) to assess and treat clients presenting with symptoms of OCD.

I honor the diversity of human experience, respecting the full spectrum of gender expression, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, spirituality, and disability status. I am committed to a Health At Every Size (HAES) approach which includes accepting and respecting the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes, rejecting the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights, promoting intuitive eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs, and pleasure, and supporting physical activities that allow people of all sizes, abilities, and interests to engage in enjoyable movement to the degree that they choose.

I believe the counseling experience needs to be tailored to the individual needs of each client. You might benefit from a very structured, action-oriented approach to therapy. Or you might need a more flexible, organic approach. Both are valid, and I adjust accordingly to your needs. So you get the most out of our time together, I will encourage you to work both in and out of the counseling sessions.  Sometimes change will be swift, but often it will be slow and deliberate; effort may need to be repeated. I will enter our relationship with optimism and an eagerness to work with you, and I strive for my clients to experience me as welcoming, thoughtful, straightforward, and caring.

Personally, I’m a proud North Carolina native who completed my undergraduate studies at NC State University and my master’s degree at Wake Forest. In my free time, I enjoy traveling with my partner, gardening, and creative pursuits like photography and painting. I have two rescue dogs that fill my heart and leave fur all over my home. I love cheesy rom-coms, coffee, snow days, the Enneagram, and dream of someday owning a pet pig.