Whether you’re starting therapy for the first time or still trying to find the right therapist, I know that the process can be intimidating. Here’s a look into what you can expect when working with me.
If you have specific questions, be sure to check out the FAQs section below!
- Stop cursing at and fighting your body’s reactions
- Learn the language of your stress responses
- Establish trust with yourself and your body
- Increase your ability to be present with your body and develop a relationship with your body that is not just a place of chronic illness, unease, stuckness, discomfort, and pain
- Build compassion towards yourself
- Lighten shame and guilt and support your processing of grief (if appropriate)
- Navigate your emotional bucket: help you feel your emotions — and not think them — to address being stuck in worry and avoidance
- Increase capacity to handle stress and feel big things without shutting down or “running away”
- Clarify values and needs
- Recover from burnout
I'm here to help you:
Are you ready to get started?
- Generally, we start with developing understanding and trust with your physical self. This typically begins with education about the nervous system, the various nuances of it, and typical stress responses. We will start to figure out how you best process external information (movement, imagery, sensation, emotion, etc.) and work to develop skills that support these avenues of processing.
- I will teach you how to notice physical signs of changes in your nervous system without being overwhelmed and learning to trust that these will not last forever. I’ll also teach you skills to withstand these big emotions and remain in one piece.
- This process helps increase your trust in your own ability to feel emotions, and we’ll go as slow and small as needed. Our aim is to find the right amount to feel, which most times is not the full intensity. This can be challenging for clients who like to push through or tough it out.
- Then, we’ll work towards a better understanding of your emotions – learning more about them, feeling more of them, and feeling less stuck. We'll explore how your feelings are connected to belief systems, previous patterns in coping, and relationships.
- We’ll start to get more clarity on what is important to you, your values, and other life goals, as well as your needs. From there, we can explore how to move towards those values. Along the way, if/when appropriate, we will address past traumas and support the completion of stuck defensive responses that – at the time – were not safe to complete.
And here's how we'll do that work:
Are you ready to take the first step?
- your financial abilities and needs
- the frequency and severity of your symptoms and ongoing life stressors
- the type of issues you are looking to work on (a single issue or several more in-depth issues)
- how much time you’re able to spend engaging in skills learned outside of session
The length of time you're in therapy with me will depend on a variety of things, including:
I value collaboration and feedback, so when we work together, we will discuss progress in therapy and adjustment of goals and direction as needed.
Most of my clients work with me because of my training and use of Somatic Experiencing® (SE™), blending it with ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy). Not all of my clients have a deep understanding of SE™ and seek it out based on recommendations from others in their lives (doctors, friends, family, other practitioners) or because they have a sense that they need something different than strictly talk therapy.
If there is a specific style of treatment you’d like to engage in, let me know. If I don’t offer the type of therapy you’re looking for, I’ll work with you to find someone who does.
Do you have a question (or two) before we get started? Learn more here!
If you are a new client, please reach out via email, call, or text to set up a 15-20 minute free consultation call to determine if we will be a good match working together.
For returning clients, either request an appointment through my client portal or reach out through email or phone.
I currently accept Aenta plans and bill through Alma for folks in NC and OR. For Oregon clients, I am also INN with Pacific Source and OHP.
For all other insurance providers, I am considered an Out of Network provider.
Unfortunately, many therapists, including myself, can’t afford to accept the reimbursements that insurance companies offer while still providing the quality of care we believe our clients deserve. I have specialized training in Somatic Experiencing® work, and I value being able to provide the best level of care to my clients through this modality. In order for me to maintain this high level of care, compassion, and attention to my clients, I work with a limited number of clients a week to be able to support my overall wellbeing and values. Having a smaller caseload allows me to prevent my own burnout as a therapist. Additionally, it provides more flexibility in my schedule for when clients with chronic illness need to move their appointment during the week due to a flare, fatigue, migraine, etc.
Additionally, somatic therapy isn't the right fit for everyone, and that's okay! Limiting my client load means we can be sure that we're a good match for working together — and that you will benefit from my experience, expertise, and training based on your specific needs. Working with fewer clients also allows me to provide you with extended sessions for deeper, more focused Somatic Experiencing® trauma work, which I love doing!
I accept Aetna through Alma for NC and OR. I accept Pacific Source and OHP for Oregon. For all other insurance providers I am considered an Out of Network provider. However, I can provide you with a superbill at the end of each month, which you can submit to your insurance company. If submitting a superbill on your own sounds daunting or just another to-do, I work with Thrizer, and they will submit superbills to your insurance company on your behalf for possible reimbursement.
Before booking an appointment, I suggest calling the number on the back of your insurance card, inquiring about your “out of network” therapy benefits, and learning about how to submit an out-of-network reimbursement claim. Here are some questions to consider asking your insurance company:
- Do I have out of network benefits for mental health services provided via Telehealth and in-person?
- Do I have a deductible? If yes, how much is it, and have I met it yet?
- Does my plan limit how many sessions I can have per year? If yes, what is the limit?
- How much does my plan reimburse for an out of network provider?
- How do I submit receipts for reimbursement?
I require new clients to attend weekly sessions for two months. The relationship is a highly important factor for change and progress towards therapeutic goals, and I find my clients and I can build rapport and trust better when we start weekly. After this time, we will discuss what makes sense therapeutically (recommendations based on current progress and symptoms) and your needs and perspective on your progress. Clients can switch to twice per month, and, after regular discussions of progress, move to booster sessions, which look like monthly sessions.
Frequency can return to more frequency at any time. Life happens and having additional support through those periodic challenges can help.
For us to work on your goals with processing past traumas or residual symptoms from trauma does not require you to tell me about it. If sharing your story feels supportive, I would be honored to listen and support you in it. And if there is any resistance inside, I am going to encourage you to listen to it. Sometimes retelling is too intense for what we can handle at the time. Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) works with how our nervous system and body are reacting and responding in the moment, and there are many other channels for processing emotion, thought, activation than verbal processing.
A great thing about SE™ is that we can work with whatever is available at this time. Maybe you’re slammed at work currently and don’t have the capacity to go back to one of your most traumatic memories in session. No problem, and guess what? Your body’s response to stress currently is likely similar to how it responded to stress or trauma in the past. So…our work in addressing the present challenge, “dysfunction,” stuckness, etc. often supports addressing the past stuff too. Or at least helps prepare you for digging into the intense stuff. This holds true with traumas you don't have clear or full memory of (including pre-explicit memory formation in development). Again, our nervous systems tend to continue in similar patterns of stress responses when what didn't get to happen continues to not get to happen.
There are, however, a few situations in which I need to break confidentiality as a mandated reporter. These situations include the following:
- If I have reason to believe or you tell me that you have intentions to seriously injure or kill yourself
- If I have reason to believe or you tell me you have intentions to seriously injure or kill someone else
- If you share of a minor or an elderly person being abused or neglected
- If I am ordered by a judge to do so
Please note: If we are engaging in telehealth/virtual therapy services, I am not able to guarantee confidentiality on your end. I recommend you doing your sessions from a private space with a closed door between you and anyone else in your living space.
Tuesdays: 12PM - 8PM EST/9AM-5PM PST
Wednesdays: 12PM - 8PM EST/9AM-5PM PST
Thursdays: 12PM - 8PM EST/9AM-5PM PST
I do my best to respond to emails, voicemails, and text messages within 24-48 hours of receiving them on my business days and within my business hours. (If you contact me after 8PM on Thursdays, the soonest you will receive a response will be Monday afternoon.)
If you have not received a response after 48 hours, you can assume I did not receive your message. Please reach out again! Responding to emails and texts is easiest for me and typically recieved a quicker repsonse.
I am a solo private practice owner and do not provide emergency, crisis, or after hours assistance.
I have a 24 hour cancellation and rescheduling policy. This means if you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment and do so prior to 24 hours before your scheduled appointment, you will not be charged a late cancellation/rescheduling fee. If you cancel or reschedule within 24 hours of your scheduled appointment, this is considered a late cancellation, and you are charged the full session fee.
I provide each of my clients one free late cancel/reschedule per year. After that, my clients are charged the full session fee. I hold a full hour for my clients, and it is very difficult to fill that time with short notice. This policy helps me maintain a consistent work schedule for myself and my clients.
If cancellations and rescheduling start to happen frequently, I will suggest having a discussion about needing a break or any challenges that might be impacting your current ability to attend your scheduled sessions. Progress towards goals needs consistent engagement in therapy sessions.
Fit is so important in therapy! Therapy is more effective when you have a strong relationship and connection with your therapist. It is not uncommon for you to come across a therapist or two who don't feel like a good fit. I specialize in therapy for chronic illness, therapy for burnout, and somatic therapy for trauma. This means, I may not be the best therapist for you if you are looking for support for something outside of those specialties-and that is okay! While it can be frustrating to need to seek out another therapist, I would be doing a disservice to you if we were to work together on something other therapists have more training and expertise in. There are so many therapists with a wide variety of specialties. If either of us feel we are not a good fit, I will support you in connecting with someone who might be. I have a strong network of referrals for therapists in North Carolina, and especially in WNC.
- Folks who are in an active state of substance dependence--this does not mean folks in recovery
- Treatments that are mandated by court
- Actively involved in legal or custody cases as I do not testify for these types of issues
- Primary reasons for seeking therapy services being related to a traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Primary reasons for seeking therapy services being related to eating disorder(s)
- Multiple hospitalizations in one calendar year
- Folks looking for an ESA letter (emotional support animal)-I do not write these letters for clients
A note about me missing sessions: I do my best to hold my commitments and attend all scheduled appointments with my clients. That being said, I am human too. If I need to cancel an appointment, I will do my best to give you as much heads up as I am able to, and you will not be charged for my cancellation. I will do my best to provide options for rescheduling in a reasonable time.
