How I Work

My clinical orientation is psychodynamic, grounded in a relational, attachment-based lens. I believe that much of what drives our suffering operates outside of conscious awareness, not because we are avoiding it, but, because it was encoded before we had language for it. Much of what lives in the unconscious does so for good reason. These were once adaptive protections strategies that helped us survive in the environments we grew up in. The difficulty is that what once protected us often persists long after it is needed, shaping our relationships, our self-perception, and our choices in ways we cannot fully see or explain.

In our work together, I listen closely to the whole picture: what you say, what you don't say, how you organize your world, and what emerges between us in the therapeutic relationship. I don't assign homework or use worksheets, and I'm not going to teach you to reframe your thoughts and call it progress. Instead, we work toward developing a more honest, flexible, and integrated relationship with yourself; one that allows for greater awareness, choice, and emotional freedom.

Sessions are held at least once a week via a HIPAA-compliant video platform. Consistency matters in this work. Depth rarely unfolds in sporadic check-ins, and regular sessions create the continuity necessary for meaningful exploration.

Attachment-Informed Framework

Our earliest attachments (parents, grandparents, siblings, caregivers, etc.) create our internal working models. Our childhood and early life experiences shape our expectations of the world. Whether the world is safe, whether others can be relied upon, and whether our emotional needs are legitimate. These models forged in our first relationships, continue to operate in every significant relationship we enter as adults.

An attachment-informed approach pays careful attention to these patterns, careful not to pathologize them, but to understand them as adaptations that once served a purpose.

• Fear of abandonment — the anticipation of rejection or loss that may lead to clinging, testing, or preemptive withdrawal
• Avoidance of closeness — a learned self-sufficiency that keeps others at a comfortable distance, often at the cost of intimacy and emotional depth
• Repetition of early relational dynamics — unconsciously recreating familiar but painful patterns in current relationships

Relational Therapy

The therapeutic relationship itself is not merely a vehicle for delivering treatment. I believe it is one of the most powerful elements of treatment. What unfolds between us offers a real-time glimpse into relational patterns, defenses, longings, and fears that might otherwise remain invisible.

• Conflict cycles — recurring arguments or ruptures that follow a predictable emotional script
• People-pleasing — chronically prioritizing others' needs at the expense of your own, often rooted in early relational conditioning
• Emotional shutdown — withdrawing or going numb when emotional intensity rises
• Attraction to unavailable partners — a pattern that often reflects deeper attachment wounds and unconscious relational blueprints

Exploration of Unconscious Processes

I don't structure our work together around homework or worksheets. I'm not focused on simply teaching you to reframe your thoughts and calling that change. While coping skills are useful, our work goes much further and deeper than that. Together, we'll work toward developing a more honest, flexible, and integrated relationship with yourself; one that makes room for the full complexity of your emotional life. When we understand the roots of a pattern, coping becomes less about managing symptoms and more about meaningful transformation.