Frequently Asked Questions

Sessions are 50 minutes in length for individual therapy. Couples sessions are 60 minutes. EMDR reprocessing session is 90 minutes. Family sessions are 90 minutes.

At my discretion, if we are in a therapeutic flow, time permitting, the session may last a few minutes longer (free of charge).

You may be eligible for a reduced fee, depending on availability. I reserve my reduced-fee spots for clients who can make a weekly commitment. I have also created my online Complex Trauma group for women as an alternative to working with me individually, which is a low-cost option.

No, I am an out of-network provider.

I can provide you with a Superbill, and you can submit it to your insurance for reimbursement. Depending on your out-of-network provider benefits and deductible, you may receive a partial refund directly from your insurance. A downside to this option is you must receive a mental health diagnosis for insurance to process a claim. For some people a diagnosis is helpful, and they would like one. For others, this isn’t optimal for many reasons, including the desire for absolute privacy. I can explore the pros and cons of being diagnosed with you.

It is an umbrella term for a wide range of symptoms that can persist when you have had a traumatic childhood (ongoing long-term emotional neglect, psychological abuse, sexual or physical abuse). We can often see these symptoms present in the teenage years or sometimes earlier. CPTSD clients may have been given different mental health diagnoses in the past, but often past providers haven’t addressed the childhood/attachment trauma that may have caused those symptoms to arise.

Since the trauma has often happened from the womb to 18 years of age, it lays down certain ways of thinking (brain pathways), ways of being and doing, that were protective and adaptive as a child but are no longer helpful as an adult. Recovering from CPTSD involves breaking down those protective ways of thinking and doing, and installing more adaptive “programming,” or neural pathways, in the brain. My favorite modality to facilitate this change is EMDR (a way to clear trauma from the mind, body, and release stuck emotions).

• This Isn’t Me by Annabel Gonzalez (This is my favorite one, I can’t recommend it enough.)
• Going from Surviving to Thriving with Complex Trauma by Pete Walker (This is a heavy read for a CPTSD survivor but a helpful resource. Pete Walker is also a CPTSD survivor.)
• Any books by Judith Herman if you like a more clinical book.

When working with clients with complex trauma, I meet you where you are. Sometimes, we can have an intense feeling of healing and want to see it happen quickly. However, with complex trauma, that can have the opposite effect.

If you are deathly afraid of the ocean and sharks and want to overcome this fear, you say you are willing to jump into water where sharks occasionally swim by – but there are parts of you that aren’t ready. Then if you force yourself to jump and stay in the water for one hour, even though no sharks come and you were technically safe, this could be more traumatizing than healing. The similar applies to trauma therapy; for the most complex cases, it is often best to go slow.

We will assess where you are together. If you don’t have the somatic capacity or there are other signs that it would be too much to start EMDR reprocessing as quickly as you would like, then I would suggest a slower approach.

Titration is when we, perhaps, tip our toes in the water first, see how it feels, and go from there. In trauma therapy, if we go too fast, too soon, that can actually overload your system and could even cause a regression or relapse in past behavior that you have healed.

Titration will help us go as slow, medium, or fast to what fits you and your body.

The Gottman Checkup is an optional relationship checkup that I recommend all couples complete when working with me. It costs $39 and is completed individually by each partner online. We then go over it together in session. It helps us see specific weaknesses and strengths of the relationship so that we can use that to inform treatment goals along with your personal/couple goals.

A report is also generated for the couple to have as a reference for further reflection and guidance on areas to work on.

The checkup can also be done after 90 days or more to view the couple’s tangible progress.

After meeting 2-3 times as a couple, we will have an individual session with each partner so that they can have space to share their individual narrative.

The No Secrets Policy means I cannot hold any secrets from your partner. We are all in this together. If you share something that you are having a hard time telling your partner in the assessment period, I will invite you, encourage you, and help you share this during the next couples’ session.

• Wired for Love: How Understanding Your Partner’s Brain and Attachment Style Can Help You Defuse Conflict and Build a Secure Relationship by Stan Tatkin, PsyD
• Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples by Harville Hendrix, Ph.D.
• Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love by Dr. Sue Johnson
• I Want This to Work: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating the Most Difficult Relationship Issues We Face in The Modern Age by Elizabeth Earnshaw, LMFT, CGT
• Desire: An Inclusive Guide to Navigating Libido Differences in Relationships by Lauren Fogel Mersy, PSYD, and Jennifer A Vencill, Ph.D., ABPP
• Any books by the Gottmans

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a modality of psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of past disturbing life experiences. It works for single incident traumas (like a bad car accident) or complex trauma (a series of traumatic events over time).

In his book on trauma healing, The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel Van Der Koff suggests EMDR as one of the top modalities to heal from trauma. Research studies show that by using EMDR therapy, people can experience the benefits of healing that may have previously taken years or even a lifetime of talk therapy.

EMDR therapy shows that the mind can heal from psychological trauma. EMDR is unique because it addresses the brain (thoughts), body (sensations stored in the body), and feelings trapped due to the trauma. It allows for new neural pathways to form and breakdown neural pathways that are causing patterns of what may feel like “self-sabotage.” It then has a protocol to build or strengthen adaptive neural pathways that are needed to thrive.

When our brain’s information processing system becomes blocked by the impact of a traumatic event or repeated traumatic events (such as childhood trauma), our brain maladaptively stores information.

For example, picture two children, one who has a positive, happy, healthy loving environment at home, and the other one has a parent who is an alcoholic. Whenever that parent gets drunk, they berate that child, calling them stupid. Both children struggle in school and are able to overcome their struggles. However, the child who comes from the loving household is able to effectively process daily failures (and not internalize them). That child has been provided sufficient persistent coaching to most likely have a good self-image of themselves and the world.

However, the other child who came from the home with the alcoholic parent who was chronically berating them may have a persistent deep feeling or fear of being a failure, or need to be perfect, even if they are a high-functioning adult with a successful career. Or this child may have a hard time truly trusting others in relationships as an adult.

As a child, the second person’s system was chronically overloaded. Instead of being able to process average events of childhood, their brain would store those as “evidence” of “I’m a failure” and then would be hyper vigilant to prevent any interactions that could lead them to feeling like a failure. This can often be connected with a need to be perfect.

As an EMDR therapist, I use specific, detailed protocols and procedures to help clients activate their natural healing processes. EMDR utilizes a mind-body connection that allows trapped emotions to be released from the body while also helping you to rewire your brain.

• Stuck Not Broken (all about the polyvagal theory)
• Voices of Your Village (for parenting, but also has many amazing episodes that can help you even if you’re not a parent)
• Unruffled: Respectful Parenting with Janet Landsbury
• Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
• Where Should We Begin? with Ester Perel (love, relationships)
• Gathering Gold with Sheryl Paul (anxiety)
• Sex with Emily with Emily Morse

When I was in graduate school, there was a debate and a shift between being a “blank slate” and self-disclosure (talking about yourself) if it would be therapeutically helpful.

For any Sopranos fans, a “blank slate” would be similar to Tony Soprano’s therapist, Dr. Melfi. She is positioned as an expert, and she rarely shares anything personal with Tony. You can feel or see more of an energetic wall between them. Tony often seems to be frustrated with her due to this “expert stance,” but at the same time, Dr. Melfi often slips into judgment and does not always clearly set appropriate boundaries. 

I don’t think energetic walls are helpful in therapy. My goal is for you to feel the human-to-human aspect of our interaction, not just myself as an expert who knows everything. You are the expert of your own life. I use my expertise to guide you to places you haven’t been able to get to by yourself. When we finish therapy, you will leave knowing how to guide yourself.

When therapeutically appropriate to your treatment, I share personal details about my life because not only is it easy to relate and learn from others’ stories, but it helps build a remembrance that there is no shame in the messiness of life.

I’m also open to sharing certain details on my Instagram and here on my website, because I think my experiential life experiences and healing journey are just as, if not more, important than my clinical training. Either way, the combination of both makes me a unique therapist.