How I Work
Thirty years working across schools, child welfare, residential care and disability advocacy taught me that there is no single right way to do therapy. Here is how I think about the approaches I draw on.
Chosen With You, Never for You
I am trained in a range of therapy approaches, and none of them is the right one for everybody. I don't get to choose what works. You do. So the first sessions are partly about getting to know how you think, what you have already tried, what helped and what did not, and what you want from being here.
From there I will suggest ways of working and explain them in plain language. You can say yes, no, or let's try it and see. Approaches are chosen with you, never for you, and if something stops fitting we change it. That is not a failure of therapy. It is how therapy is supposed to work.
How Approaches Combine
In practice, approaches rarely show up alone. A session might start with a few minutes of somatic noticing, move into CBT around a specific worry, and end with an ACT question about what matters to you this week. DBT skills lean on mindfulness. Internal family systems often meets the body through somatic work.
I think of these approaches less as brands and more as tools on a shared table. No two people are the same, so no two plans look the same either. What stays constant is the relationship, the pacing you set, and honest check-ins about whether the work is still useful.
How the Work Changes Across Ages
With children as young as four, therapy looks like play. CBT ideas become characters and thermometers, mindfulness becomes bubbles and chimes, and parents are often part of the room so the same language can carry home.
With teens, I keep things concrete and respectful of their privacy, and I use approaches like DBT skills and parts work that give words to fast, contradictory feelings. With adults and seniors, the mix depends on what brings you in, whether that is anxiety, trauma, grief, burnout or a change in life you did not ask for.
Whatever your age, you are the expert on your own life. I bring what I know about how minds, bodies and relationships work, and you bring what you know about yourself. The approach we end up with is built from both, and it can change as you do.
With couples and families, the focus widens to the patterns between people. Skills get practiced together, and each person's experience gets heard. The office is a low arousal room, and sessions are available in person in Eugene or by telehealth anywhere in Oregon.
Approaches
Six Approaches I Draw On
Other Approaches I Draw On
I also draw on narrative, attachment-based, person-centered and solution-focused work. Narrative therapy helps you step back from the story you have been told about yourself and write your own. Attachment-based work pays attention to the bonds between people, especially parents and children. Person-centered work keeps you, not a method, at the center. Solution-focused work looks for what is already going right and builds from there. You can read more about my background on the About page, and about the kinds of concerns I work with on Services.
Next Step
Start With a Free 30-Minute Call
A short conversation so I can hear what is going on and we can decide together which way of working fits.