Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy for Adults & Adolescents (DBT)
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive-Behavioral Couples Therapy (CBCT)
Family Therapies
Prepare-Enrich
Prolonged-Exposure (PE)
Behavioral Parent Training
Your Parent Compass
Unified Protocol (UP)
For individual clients, our first 1-2 sessions will be an assessment of your needs and history. The initial intake assessment for therapy is a standard 45-50 minute session. By the end of the intake process, I will be able to offer you some first impressions of what our work will include. For adolescents, I do request to meet with the parents for a session, as part of the intake process.
In my work with couples, the initial intake assessment involves both partners to understand the question of, “Why now?” Following the first appointment, I then meet with each partner, individually. It’s important to me that I take the time to understand each partner’s family of origin history, relevant development issues/challenges, relationship history outside of the relationship treated and to give myself the opportunity to truly understand and validate each partner’s experience. At the completion of this process, we will continue meeting as a couple with rare individual sessions. I maintain a “No-Secrets Policy;” I will not have individual interactions with partners (email, phone or in-session contact) without the other being fully aware having agreed upon ahead of time.
Once we’ve gone through the intake process and decided together that I am the right fit for you and your needs, we will work together to develop your treatment plan. Change requires time and effort, and most of the work will happen outside of our once a week 50-minute sessions. You can expect to get homework between sessions and know we will continue to re-evaluate your goals and progress along the way. You can also expect that the frequency of our sessions will reduce over time as your needs change.
When treating relational problems in couples and families, all members are involved. The intake process will likely include meeting as a couple and as individuals, though all together we will develop shared goals in treatment. Starting off, we will meet weekly to develop the skills needed to communicate effectively. Without the necessary foundational skills to have the conversations and solve the problems faced, couple and family therapies have the potential for doing more harm than good. I understand that relational therapy can be intimidating; I will work at your pace to ensure all parties feel safe and comfortable.
The goal in couples counseling is not to get the relationship “back” to where it was before or to “keep” people together. The goal is to help my couples learn what they need in a relationship and work towards creating a relationship that works for them. Starting couples counseling is the HARD. Once we build skills and improve communication, we work towards a synthesis of acceptance and change in the relationship dynamic. For every couple I treat, my hope is that couples therapy moves from being a “Last resort” option to another “Tool in the toolbox” and one you can turn to at various points throughout your relationship, without shame, guilt or fear of the unknown.
Providing consultation, training professionals, and implementing evidence based programs is an area of the mental health field that brings me much excitement and joy. From 2015 - 2022 I provided training and consultation on the model of Family Integrated Transitions (FIT) in the Northern Region of Norway through Multi-Systemic Services, LLC. While at the Emily Program in 2017, I worked with administration and staff to align the Seattle PHP/IOP programs with DBT practices and principles to improve outcomes for clients.
If my background and areas of expertise are of interest to you, let’s find ways to collaborate!