My Approach

With fifteen years of clinical experience, I bring both expertise and authentic engagement to the therapeutic relationship, creating a space where growth and transformation can flourish. My approach has been shaped by continuous training, consultation, and diverse client work.

At the heart of my therapeutic philosophy are three essential processes:

• Self-awareness: Developing a comprehensive understanding of your strengths, perceptions, reactions, and core values
• Self-regulation: Mastering the complex interplay between emotions, behaviors, and their contexts
• Psychological flexibility: Learning to hold thoughts and emotions lightly, allowing you to act on deeper values rather than momentary impulses

True progress extends beyond simply “feeling better.” While emotional relief is valuable, I focus on building your capacity to navigate difficult feelings and challenges while staying connected to what matters most—whether that’s nurturing meaningful relationships, engaging in fulfilling work, or caring for your physical and emotional wellbeing.

Individual Therapy

Individual therapy can take different paths depending on your goals and needs. I offer two approaches that can be integrated based on what will serve you best.

Addressing Specific Problems & Disorders

Some of my work focuses on addressing specific problems or disorders through evidence-based treatments grounded in theory, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Process-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

I utilize evidence-based interventions from these approaches, including:

• Core ACT skills: mindfulness, acceptance, cognitive defusion, values clarification, committed action, and psychological flexibility
• Essential DBT skills: emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness
• Process-based CBT techniques: targeting underlying psychological processes, flexible thinking patterns, and adaptive responding
• Values-driven exposure work: gradual approach to feared situations guided by personal values and meaningful life goals

These interventions are particularly effective for those experiencing:

• Specific anxiety disorders (social anxiety, panic disorder, generalized anxiety, phobias)
• Difficulties with emotional regulation (both over-control and under-control)
• Depression, including persistent low mood, loss of interest, and feelings of hopelessness
• Perfectionism and self-criticism that interfere with well-being and relationships
• Persistent thinking patterns like rumination, worry, or cognitive rigidity

The Transformative Journey

Individual therapy can also involve a transformational journey that explores deeper questions of what truly matters, authentic connection, and self-actualization. This approach recognizes that healing isn’t about leaving things behind forever, but about developing a different relationship with our challenges when they arise again.

This transformative framework differs from traditional models in several key ways:

• Connection over separation: Finding strength in vulnerability and relationship rather than isolated self-sufficiency
• Integration rather than defeat: Transforming challenges through understanding and incorporation, not battle
• Cyclical rather than linear progress: Understanding that growth involves revisiting familiar patterns with deepened awareness and expanded resources
• Both/and thinking: Embracing complexity and holding seemingly contradictory truths simultaneously
• Reclaiming disowned aspects: Reconnecting with parts of yourself that were set aside to survive or conform

Central to this approach is recognizing that we don’t just “get over” things linearly. Instead, we spiral back to familiar patterns, relationships, or challenges with greater awareness, compassion, and tools each time. We meet the same triggers and dynamics with deeper self-understanding, stronger emotional resources, and clearer connection to our values.

In practice, this translates to a therapeutic process where we honor your journey’s unique rhythm, validate the wisdom in your adaptations and coping strategies, and create space for integration rather than elimination of the parts that have been labeled as “problems.”

Couples Therapy

Humans are naturally wired for connection and interdependence. My approach to couples therapy is primarily rooted in Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), developed by Dr. Sue Johnson, which recognizes that relationship distress often stems from our fundamental needs for safety and closeness not being met, along with underlying fears of abandonment or being overwhelmed.

EFT views relationship conflicts not as communication failures but as protests about disconnection. When partners feel emotionally unsafe, they develop protective strategies—such as pursuing, withdrawing, or attacking—that inadvertently create the very distance they fear. These patterns become self-reinforcing cycles where each partner’s attempt to feel secure triggers the other’s insecurities.

Through EFT, I help couples understand that their conflicts are surface expressions of deeper emotional needs. We work to identify each partner’s vulnerable emotions beneath their protective responses, recognize how these create negative cycles, and develop new ways of reaching for each other that build security and intimacy.

When working with couples, I help you:

• Identify and interrupt the negative cycles that create distance and conflict
• Access and express the deeper emotions and needs that drive these patterns
• Develop new ways of connecting that foster security and closeness
• Build a relationship where both partners feel seen, heard, and valued

Whether you’re navigating communication challenges, recovering from betrayal, transitioning to parenthood, or simply wanting to deepen your connection, EFT offers a path to creating the secure, fulfilling partnership you both desire.

Additional Areas of Expertise

• Life transitions related to family building, including pregnancy, pregnancy loss, infertility, postpartum adjustment, and parenthood
• Recovery from toxic relationships and healing attachment wounds
• Hormonal influences on emotional health, including PMDD and perimenopause
• Psychological assessments for organ donors, egg donors, and surrogates

Professional Community and Activities

• Chair-Elect of the New Mexico Emotion-Focused Therapy Community
• Co-founder of Third Wave Psychotherapy of New Mexico
• Member of the Association for Contextual & Behavioral Science