My approach as a therapist
I would describe my therapeutic style as authentic, honest, curious, compassionate, and humorous. I believe in a person-centered approach which often means that I’m using a mix of modalities to approach your goals and treatment. There’s no such thing as a “cure all” approach to therapy. What works for one client may not work for the next, and that’s okay. I use an eclectic mix and balance of modalities such as Attachment Theory, Somatic/Experiential Therapies, Internal Family Systems/parts work, Person-Centered Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Polyvagal Theory, and Cognitive Behavioral Theory. In addition, I have formal training in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy that I use formally as a way to process trauma with individual clients, however my knowledge of how trauma impacts the brain, body, and life informs the way I work with couples, as well. Learn more about EMDR here . In addition, I completed the Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) Externship in July 2025, which is the approach I center my work with couples in. More about EFCT here.
While I am working from these approaches, I am also striving to keep my work centered in an anti-oppressive, anti-racist, culturally-inclusive approach. As a person that holds privilege and recognizes there is an inherent power dynamic in the therapeutic relationship, I am committed to continuing to learn how recognize how these dynamics show up in the therapy room as well as learning how to challenged my internalized biases that I learned growing up in a privileged world.
“When we liberate ourselves from the expectation that we must have all things figured out, we enter a sanctuary of empathy”
-Sonya Renee Taylor, The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love
About me
I have always been incredibly fascinated in psychology since I was a child. That eventually turned into curiosity about the human experience, suffering, impacts from that suffering, and how to best support each other as fellow humans.
I earned a BA in both Psychology and Sociology from the University of Colorado Boulder and then my Masters in Social Work from Arizona State University. During the first several years of my career, I worked in residential treatment facilities with children, inpatient settings, community agencies providing care and support to families and children. I recognized how my curiosity evolved into a passion for working with the short and long term affects of past trauma. I transitioned into working as an outpatient mental health therapist in May 2021, which is the same month I moved to Portland, Oregon!
I identify as a queer, chronically ill, larger-bodied, cis-gendered woman. I am white-presenting, although I am bi-racial with Japanese heritage.
Working towards healing your relationship with your partner, yourself, and/or the world around you is no small feat. I recognize how difficult this work can feel because I try to keep an active practice of being in therapy myself. It is incredibly difficult to sit with discomfort, emotions that feel foreign, attachment wounds that you have safely stored away. It is a brave thing to even consider taking on this challenge.
When I am not working with clients, I am a true homebody at heart. Lately, I have been spending free time playing videos games, most particularly Fallout 76 with my partner. For as long as I can remember, listening to music and going to live shows has been a huge part of my life. I think that music is an amazing way to express how you’re feeling, especially when you find a song that describes something you went through better than you ever could yourself.