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My Approach
What Sessions Look Like
Therapy with me is designed to meet you exactly where you are, in your own space, with your own needs honored every step of the way. Here's what you can expect:
Initial Sessions - Building Foundation:
• Intake: We'll complete a thorough intake, set meaningful therapy goals, and create a robust safety plan that works for YOUR life and circumstances
• Safety Planning: Because we're virtual, because we serve clients across multiple states, and because I don't believe in automatically calling 911, we'll create a personalized safety plan that honors your autonomy
• Relationship Building: Early sessions focus on developing our therapeutic relationship and building your personalized coping toolbox
Ongoing Sessions - The Real Work:
• Creative Strategies: Art-making, gentle movement, parts work, and EMDR as appropriate
• Virtual Accommodations: Use chat if speaking becomes difficult; bring fidgets, sit on the floor, move as needed
• Reconnection: If I notice shutdown, we'll use pre-agreed strategies to reconnect with the present moment
Parts Work
What Are "Parts"?
Parts work doesn't mean multiple personalities - we ALL have multiple parts. Think about it: you have a worried part, an angry part, your inner child, your inner teenager, maybe an eating disorder part. We use the groundwork from Dr. Richard Schwartz's "No Bad Parts" to explore, name, and lean in with curiosity about these different aspects of yourself.
How It Works:
We absolutely can name and visualize these parts. It helps us 'see' our internal family and understand the different dynamics they have. We explore managers (parts that try to keep us safe by controlling), firefighters (parts that react when we're triggered), and exiles (parts that hold our pain and vulnerabilities).
The Liberation Aspect:
This work helps release shame around our more 'unruly' parts - like eating disorder parts or self-harm parts. Instead of fighting these parts, we learn to speak with kindness to them and let them know they don't have to be the ones keeping us safe anymore.
Virtual Parts Work:
Is it weird? YES. I KNOW. But it's also incredibly healing. Virtual parts work isn't much different from in-person - just make sure you have your art supplies handy for when we want to draw or visualize your parts.
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Ready to explore your parts with compassion?
Anti-Oppressive Framework
The Foundation of Everything:
Everything I do in therapy is grounded in an anti-oppression framework that acknowledges a simple truth: individual healing happens within systems of power. Your anxiety, depression, eating disorder, or trauma responses don't exist in a vacuum - they're often rational responses to irrational, oppressive systems.
Systems, Not Symptoms:
Instead of just treating your symptoms, we explore how racism, fatphobia, transphobia, ableism, and other forms of oppression have impacted your mental health. We work to understand how these systems taught you to hate parts of yourself, and how your healing contributes to collective liberation.
Your Rage is Valid:
I won't ask you to 'think positive' about systems designed to harm you. Your anger at injustice is appropriate. Your mistrust of institutions that have failed you makes sense. We'll honor that rage while building tools for sustainable resistance and healing.
Individual + Collective:
Your personal healing matters AND systemic change matters. We need both. As you reclaim your authentic self, you're not just healing individually - you're modeling liberation for others and refusing to participate in systems that cause harm.
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Want therapy that honors your rage and fights for your liberation?
EMDR-
Eye Movement
Desensitization & Reprocessing
What is EMDR?
EMDR is a specialized therapy approach that helps your brain process and integrate traumatic memories that have gotten 'stuck.' Instead of just talking about trauma, we use bilateral stimulation (eye movements, sounds, or tactile sensations) to help your brain heal naturally.
Remote EMDR:
Yes, EMDR works virtually! We use a specialized website that provides eye movements and sounds, making the process seamless from your own safe space. I'm HAP-trained in EMDR, which emphasizes the connection between trauma and attachment.
The Process:
We follow the 8-phase EMDR protocol, but we don't rush. Before we begin processing trauma, we ensure you're ready to move bravely through the work. We'll have robust grounding techniques in place, and if I notice dissociation or overwhelm, we'll use our pre-agreed strategies to reconnect with the present moment.
EMDR + Anti-Oppression:
Traditional EMDR often ignores systemic trauma. In our work, we acknowledge that individual trauma happens within oppressive systems. We process both personal experiences AND the cultural/systemic factors that contributed to your pain.
What You'll Need:
For virtual EMDR, headphones are essential for the bilateral audio stimulation. Everything else we'll figure out together based on your space and needs.
EMDR can help with trauma, depression, anxiety, PTSD, complex trauma, religious trauma, and deconstruction experiences.
Somatic Attachment Therapy
Getting Out of Your Head, Into Your Body:
Through my training with the Embody Lab, I bring somatic attachment approaches that help you drop out of your head and fully live an embodied life - hence my practice name 'Embodied Therapy.'
What This Looks Like:
We use guided meditations, worksheets, and gentle movement to help you connect with all of your parts, not just the thinking parts. This work is about getting to know your parts and making peace with them through your body's wisdom.
The Process:
Expect guided imagery that helps you tune into your body's signals, gentle movements that support nervous system regulation, and radical acceptance of all the parts of yourself that have been carrying you through life.
Why Bodies Matter:
Your body holds the wisdom, the trauma, and the path to healing. In a culture that teaches us to disconnect from our bodies, this work helps you come home to yourself. We explore how different parts of you live in your body - where you hold tension, where you feel expansion, what your body needs to feel safe.
Virtual Embodiment:
Being in your own space actually enhances this work - you're already in your body's familiar environment, with access to your own comfort items and movement space.
Neurodivergent-Affirming Practice
Your Brain is Not Broken:
As a neurodivergent therapist, I know firsthand that ADHD, autistic, and other neurodivergent brains aren't disorders to fix - they're different operating systems that deserve accommodation and celebration.
How Sessions Adapt to Your Brain:
You'll never be asked to make eye contact, sit still, or suppress your stims. Bring your fidgets, move as you need, sit on the floor - whatever helps your nervous system regulate. We can use the chat feature if speaking becomes difficult or if you're experiencing sensory overload.
Processing at Your Pace:
Some brains need time to process before responding. Some need to move while thinking. Some communicate better through metaphors or special interests. I adapt to YOUR communication style, not the other way around.
Masking and Unmasking:
Therapy with me is a place where you can safely unmask. We'll explore how masking has served you as survival, and also where it might be costing you energy and authenticity. You get to decide when and how to unmask in the rest of your life.
Sensory Considerations:
Virtual therapy allows you to control your sensory environment completely - lighting, sound, temperature, textures. If you need sensory breaks, movement breaks, or specific accommodations, we build those into our work together.
Special Interests Welcome:
Your special interests aren't obsessions - they're areas of passionate expertise. We can absolutely use them as therapeutic tools and sources of joy and regulation.
LGBTQIA+ Affirming Methods
Beyond Tolerance to True Celebration:
As a queer, gender non-conforming therapist, I don't just accept your LGBTQIA+ identity - I celebrate it as a source of strength, resilience, and beauty. You'll never spend sessions educating me about basic LGBTQIA+ concepts or defending your right to exist.
Understanding Minority Stress:
I understand that anxiety, depression, and trauma in LGBTQIA+ people often stem from living in a world that doesn't affirm us. We address both your individual experiences AND the systemic homo/bi/transphobia that impacts your mental health.
Intersectional Identity Work:
Your LGBTQIA+ identity doesn't exist in isolation. We explore how it intersects with your race, class, neurodivergence, body size, and other identities. I understand that marginalization is complex and layered.
Chosen Family and Relationships:
I honor chosen family as real family and support diverse relationship structures. Whether you're navigating coming out, relationship dynamics, gender exploration, or building community, I understand these experiences from lived experience.
Safety and Authenticity:
We'll work together on when and how it's safe to be out in different spaces, honoring that visibility is a privilege not everyone can afford. Your safety always comes first, and your choices about disclosure are always yours to make.
ENM/Kink Friendly:
I provide affirming support for ethical non-monogamy and kink-positive relationships, focusing on communication, consent, and navigating societal judgment.
Virtual Therapy Benefits
Breaking Down Geographic Barriers:
Living in rural New Mexico, I know what it's like when the nearest LGBTQ+ affirming or eating disorder specialist is hours away. Virtual therapy brings specialized care directly to you, regardless of whether you're in a major city or the middle of the desert.
Your Space, Your Rules:
Therapy from your own space means you control everything - lighting, temperature, seating, fidgets, comfort items. You can stim freely, move as needed, and access your own grounding tools immediately. No sterile office environments or waiting rooms with triggering magazines.
Accessibility for Marginalized Communities:
Virtual therapy removes barriers that disproportionately affect marginalized people: transportation costs, time off work, childcare needs, and the risk of being seen entering a therapist's office in communities where privacy matters.
Better for Nervous Systems:
Many neurodivergent and trauma survivors find virtual therapy less overwhelming. No fluorescent lights, unfamiliar smells, or sensory overload from new environments. You get to heal in the space where you feel most authentically yourself.
Consistent Care Across State Lines:
For families in the Permian Basin and oil patch communities who live and work across state lines, virtual therapy provides consistent care regardless of which state you're in on any given day.
Crisis Planning Reimagined:
Virtual therapy allows for more personalized crisis planning using your actual support systems and local resources, rather than generic protocols that might not fit your reality.
Crisis Planning & Boundaries
Robust Safety Planning:
On day one, we create a comprehensive safety plan that's tailored to YOUR life, your support systems, and your circumstances. Because we're virtual and I serve clients across multiple states, I don't believe in one-size-fits-all crisis protocols like automatically calling 911.
Your Autonomy Matters:
Your safety plan will include your actual support people, local resources that work for your community, and strategies that honor your autonomy. We'll revisit and update this plan regularly as your circumstances and needs change.
Clear Boundaries:
I am not a crisis counselor and I'm not available 24/7. I don't respond to messages outside of session unless we've agreed to something different in advance. These boundaries aren't about not caring - they're about creating sustainable, professional care that serves you better in the long run.
When Crisis Happens:
If you're in crisis, we'll refer to the safety plan we built together. This might include calling your support person, using local crisis resources, or accessing emergency services when truly needed - but always based on the plan we created collaboratively.
Ready to experience therapy
that actually gets you?
Whether you're seeking trauma healing, eating disorder recovery, LGBTQ+ affirmation, or neurodivergent support, your liberation journey starts here.
Questions about my approach? Ready to take the next step? I'd love to connect with you.