The therapy process can feel pretty raw and scary sometimes. So, I help you use a blend of techniques specially customized to you that prioritize your sense of safety and comfort - all while you strengthen your resiliency and coping skills. I help you process your emotions and experiences however feels right to you - through your senses, through letting yourself flow creatively, through words and connection, through gently and safely coming alive your lived experience in your body and world.
* S.A.F.E EMDR
* Sandtray techniques
* Expressive arts
* Grounding skills
* Mindfulness
I aim to make your therapy experience a place where you feel safe showing up exactly as you are so you build your courage to show up how you’d like other areas of your life too.
Background
My life was changed by someone who took the time to listen to me without judgment. Since then, I have always wanted to be that listener to others, and to be the support and empathy that we all need sometimes.
During my free time, I like to play Dungeons & Dragons, video games, and to spend time with my cat and friends.
I was born and raised in Florida, where I got my Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Florida. I love plants, being outside, and all things nerdy. As a Highly Sensitive Person, I feel things deeply and am highly aware of sensory input.
Identity
I identify as a white cishet woman, I am able-bodied, and I have grown up in the Southern evangelical Christian culture. These parts of my identity have granted me many privileges in our society that I have benefited from. I aim to not only be aware of my privileges, but to also advocate for those who face injustices and are hurt by our current societal structure.
I additionally identify as being on the Asexual (Ace) spectrum, and my pronouns are she/her.
Training & Expertise
Dungeons & Dragons Therapeutic Game Master
Person centered therapy
Mindfulness
Expressive Arts
Gentle process, deep change
My heart for therapy is to help guide the process in being as reverent, gentle, and realistic as possible. The more you lean into therapy styles that trust your body and inner wisdom (yes, I promise you still have it; I’ll help you find it) to lead the way at their own pace, the faster and more effectively the work goes in the long run. This means tending to the nervous system and emotions, not just to thoughts and behavior, though you’ll engage with those as well.
You’ll find a combo of the evidence-based and the cutting-edge alternative in your work with me. My foundation is in non-pathologizing, brain/body-based trauma work while adding non-invasive energy psychology techniques and relaxing neurofeedback and sound meditation for those interested.
Background
Before becoming a therapist, my background was in music, with degrees in Vocal Performance from Southern Methodist University (undergrad) and Belmont University (grad), and many years teaching voice and piano. I bridged my time between music and therapy for several years in the tech world in web/app development project coordination and management.
Life-wise, I’m a native Nashvillian and am passionate about the arts, the outdoors, design that brings the outdoors inside, human connection, whole-person wellness, neuroscience, and mind-spirit-body integration.
Training
I am licensed as a Marital & Family Therapist in the states of Tennessee (license #1145) and North Carolina (license #2312), with my Master of Marriage & Family Therapy from Trevecca Nazarene University.
I love constantly learning. Some of my additional trainings are in:
Trauma, Emotion, and Reconnecting with Yourself:
- Internal Family Systems (Level I) - also called “parts work,” it’s reconnecting with yourself and others; experiencing the core of who you really are; nurturing compassion for yourself and others; understanding your complexity, emotions, and behaviors; and getting unstuck
- EMDR & Brainspotting (Level I) - processing and diminishing the power of traumas, shame, or negative beliefs about ourselves; using your natural gaze to release emotional and physical pain and unhook negative associations; also used to enhance performance for artists, athletes, etc.
- Emotionally Focused Therapy - understanding what’s happening inside when you get hurt and hurt others; caring for what the needs are beneath those hurts; learning how to speak for those needs in a way that draws you close rather than pushing people away
Energy Practices
- Advanced Integrative Therapy (multiple basic and advanced trainings) - learn how to gently and lovingly release negative beliefs and traumas from your chakras, discovering and releasing the connections between the traumas your body is holding and how they are affecting your life now. Advanced use also includes treatment of emotional/traumatic and psychoenergetic connections with illness, pain, and physical concerns.
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Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT tapping Level I) - gently tapping acupuncture/acupressure points to balance the body and emotions in order to resolve limiting or shameful beliefs and their effects on your life, decisions, and relationships.
Additional Meditative and Grounding Techniques
- Sound Meditation/Singing Bowls - integrate relaxing and centering crystal quartz singing bowl sounds into any of the trauma and energy techniques listed above, or on their own with or without a spoken guided meditation.
- Neurofeedback - completely passive and restful way to train your brain for calm and resilience. It involves having 5 sensors placed on your head/ears, which allows you to receive feedback about what your brain is doing in the moment; that feedback is like a mirror allowing your brain to see when it’s responding sub-optimally or in stress, and it teaches itself how to move out of those automatic stress-based reactions toward comfort and ease.
