FAQ

Currently, I am not seeing clients in an office. I work with clients from all over Colorado in an online format. I will have an office again at some point in the Colorado Springs area for those who desire in-person sessions.

Suppose you need an in-person session in the interim. In that case, there may be limited availability to meet in nature, with an understanding that confidentiality may not be possible due to others overhearing.

Online therapy offers many conveniences. It comes to you wherever you are. Many of my clients like to get cozy with a cup of tea wrapped in a warm, welcoming blanket while cuddling their dog/cat/bird and playing soft music in the background.

How about no traffic to fight to get to a location where you have to find and pay for a parking space and run up the stairs hoping that you are on time and have caught your breath by the time you enter the room? All you need to do is turn on your computer or run an app on your phone, and I am with you.

Yes, I have training in multicultural counseling, which helps me communicate with people of diverse backgrounds. However, I recognize that my training may not inform me about the unique challenges you have faced in your life.

I will do my best to be sensitive to the unique way you identify with your culture, and the struggles you have faced in identifying with your culture. I am also not perfect, and I welcome you calling me out on any blind spots that may come up.

No problem! Maybe an art project would feel more compelling. If you don’t have much time, no worries. We will break things down into smaller, quicker steps.

Homework is not graded. If you did not complete your homework, you will not receive an F, and I won’t be disappointed in you. We can talk about barriers to completing homework if you like.

I received training in the eastern and western arts of self-exploration and therapy at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. I tailor all sessions to the client and use my skills to meet each client’s needs.

Here are some of the skills I use.

EMDR uses eye movement to reprocess traumatic memories.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) works with trauma in the nervous system to bring the body/mind system back to open and responsive rather than hyper-alert and stuck.

Mindfulness uses the wise mind to track sensations, thoughts, impulses, and behaviors that arise in situations.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) promotes accepting where you are now with kindness and moving toward what you want based on your values.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) tracks thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to assess relationships, break cycles, and make different choices.

Client-Centered Therapy is humanistic therapy based on allowing the client to find their own answer while holding compassion, positive regard, and authenticity.

Gestalt works with parts of self (part of me feels this way, and part of me feels that way) to clear unfinished business.

Transpersonal works with extraordinary events like kundalini rising, dark night of the soul, and spiritual emergency to integrate non-ordinary states of consciousness into everyday life.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) builds motivation for change based on individual values.

Solutions Focused Therapy helps address a particular problem.

Coaching is NOT therapy. It works with an individual to make dreams come true.

I also include creative methods of expression and self-exploration, including art, play, puppetry, poetry, dance/movement, acting, song, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Coaching is a peer-to-peer relationship where we explore present and future hopes, dreams, and aspirations. We may also look at the past but only as it pertains to removing a block to moving toward those hopes, dreams, and aspirations. We may come up with some goals and create a contract.

In therapy, we look more at systemically what is going wrong that prevents contact, connection, vitality, and thriving in life. We work with traumatic experiences and corrective experiences with relationships. We work with reframing thoughts and recognizing problematic behavioral patterns. In therapy, we may diagnose and plan for treatment.

Throughout my career, I have worked with many clients with a broad array of issues. In my internship, I worked with Wings holding group meetings for men and women who experienced childhood sexual abuse. I also worked for a school with neurodiverse teens who experienced ASD and ADHD.

In my first job, I worked on a crisis unit for children, teens, and parents offering individual and family crisis counseling.

I now offer individual counseling to teens, adults and elders experiencing trauma, grief/loss, anxiety, depression, life transitions, and nervous system dysregulation.

The concise answer is that I wanted to help people.

The longer answer is that in my first college experience, I studied the great thinkers (Plato, Aristotle, Goethe, Archimedes, etc.), looking for a solution to the question of what to do about human suffering. It turns out that the great thinkers knew many things but did not have the answer.

I realized at this point that it is up to each individual to find the answer to their own suffering. This realization attracted me to Buddhist philosophy and the wisdom of eastern thinkers. These teachers had many things to say about suffering and what to do about it. I began to heal my suffering and found so much freedom that I devoted my life to helping others find the freedom I experienced.

My strengths include compassion, exceptional listening skills, accurate attunement and tracking, reading between the lines, and having the ability to identify where my clients feel stuck, while providing gentle and transformative confrontation.

Watching my clients grow into the best versions of themselves and realize the freedom in detachment from places they once felt stuck gives me great joy.

Ha! Sometimes! These crazy characters love to put on a show.