Hello...

I am a licensed clinical therapist with 17 years of experience, offering online and in-person psychotherapy services.  My goal as a therapist is to offer compassionate support and evidence-based therapy techniques. I take a mindful and balanced approach to both life and therapy and I respect other people's life paths.

 

I am autistic and neurodiversity-affirming and I uphold the neurodiversity paradigm which views people being neurodivergent as naturally occurring variants in human neurology. I have extensive experience working with all ages of neurodivergent people. I also specialize in supporting members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and working with people who are experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorder. I will occasionally provide family consultations or couples therapy to help people learn to understand and accommodate each other's neurodiversity. 

I help people find and embrace their neurodivergent identities, to identify their strengths and challenges and and develop a deeper understanding of how discrimination and systemic issues have impacted their lives. When we don't understand who we are, we mask and over accommodate others, we don't draw healthy boundaries for ourselves. Throughout my career I have met very few neurodivergent individuals who have NOT experienced some degree of trauma / C-PTSD.  Neurodivergent nervous systems take on a great deal of damage over time, as we try to make our way through a world that often fails to accept or accommodate us. This puts autistic people especially at risk for burnout, and is part of the reason why the autistic population has an estimated 85% unemployment rate and an average 40 to 60 year old life span.

 

I specialize in helping people repair their damaged nervous systems. I can also help you prevent future burnout by exploring coping strategies and life paths that allow you to honor your neurodivergence and create a life that works for you. I will help advocate for you with schools or workplaces to get accommodations that utilize the Americans with Disabilities Act to protect you and your nervous system in these environments.

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I am an active and involved therapist. I am trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing therapy), traditional psychotherapy, IFS (Internal Family Systems), Buddhist meditation and mindfulness, trauma-informed CBT, DBT, strength-based and person centered therapy, feminist and social justice based therapy, narrative therapy and somatic therapy. We can use the therapy techniques that work best for you, there is no such thing as one size fits all therapy. 

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Random information that you may or may not need to know. I am a mother, grandmother and former school social worker. I love plants, rocks/crystals, musical instruments (I play multiple instruments very poorly, it is a talent), ocean life - especially whales, the Upper Peninsula, being outside, laying around in a hammock, studying the changing climate of our planet, astronomy, sailing and all things sailboat related, psychology and brain function, social justice, understanding social constructs and systems and exploring alternative spiritual paths including Buddhism and nature religions. To be honest I became a therapist because I wanted to understand what the h. e. double hockey sticks was wrong with with people (turned out I was autistic) but discovered that I loved teaching, learning from, supporting and helping other neurodivergent people. I feel honored to have shared in so many client's and other therapist's life journeys and I am grateful that I have gotten to walk parts of their path with them. I rarely mask and communicate and dress as an autistic person, I am not interested in meeting social norms.