I'm a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and founder of Rising Anchor Therapy. I provide high quality, compassionate, and directive therapy with folks who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated that they aren't where they want to be.
After working for years in toxic community mental health work environments, I needed something different for both myself and my clients. At Rising Anchor, our mission is to provide high quality, individualized care for clients from therapists who are not burnout, and have the energy and training to provide great therapy. As a practice, we advocate for a change of oppressive systems that have an impact on individual mental health rather than just focusing on symptoms. We are affirming allies and advocates. Everyone is welcome and safe to be themselves here.
If you're a professional high achiever looking to manage stress and optimize performance, I can help you develop the mental and emotional resilience you need to succeed. Using evidence-based therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness, I can help you overcome obstacles, cultivate positive habits, and achieve your goals and work through burn out.
If you are a young person who is struggling to fit in, succeed in school, who's mood and and habits have changed recently, or who might just need someone to talk to, I can help you build skills to get through these challenges. I also teach parenting classes and enjoy helping parents and young folks to improve their relationships and communication.
Do you wish there was less conflict in your family relationships? Family Therapy can help family members feel seen, heard, and heal together. I teach your family emotional regulation, positive communication styles, and healthy expression of emotion to manage conflict, feel more connected, and feel confident in problem solving together.
If you're feeling lost or uncertain about your place in the world or your "time line", I can help you explore your values, beliefs, and goals to create a more meaningful and fulfilling life. I enjoy helping folks work through existential crises, especially in their 20s and 30s when it comes to navigating imposter syndrome, feeling behind, and finding meaning in your life.
I’ve been working in the mental health field since 2014 and have a range of training and experience focusing on treating teens, adults, and families with anxiety and depression, trauma, and high relational conflict. I’m from the east coast and have a casual and direct communication approach. Although I've got the background as a mental health expert, I don’t pretend to be an expert on your life or tell you what to do. Instead I work collaboratively with you to empower you to meet your goals. I believe a good therapeutic relationship is a balance between empathy and support, and gentle challenges to get you where you want to be. My approach combines elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative, and Existential to find what works best for each person, couple, or family.
In my opinion, there’s two types of therapy. The COW and the dance. A cow is a crisis of the week. It’s spending years and years in therapy without much progress, always focused on what is going wrong in that moment and spending most of session time venting about the current crisis in that week. I believe there’s always time to vent and process but I also believe that therapy shouldn’t last forever and it’s my job as your therapist to help you see the patterns of what’s causing the weekly crisis. That way we can have some honest conversations about how to learn and use skills to problem solve the patterns in your “dance” and create real change.
In our therapeutic relationships, some sessions can bring laughter, some bring tears, and some are simple processing and problem solving. My own personal style is warm, direct, and casual. I have a discussion in the very first session about what my clients are looking for, what has worked (and hasn’t worked) for them in the past, and how I can curate their sessions to be what they need. Some therapists take on the expert role and others work more collaboratively. For me, I don’t pretend to be the expert on your life experiences. I see my role as part of a team, working with you to get you where you’d like to be. I often ask for feedback to make sure the sessions feel right for you. Therapy can be whatever you need it to be and that can change session to session.
Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, reading, writing, art, attempting DIY home improvement after binge-watching HGTV, and spending time with my partner and our two cats and two dogs. I have spent time living on both the east coast and west coast, as well as abroad, volunteering with the homeless in Europe, teaching English in Central America, and conducting mental health research on anxiety and depression in South East Asia.
What led me into this work was most likely influenced by growing up in a high conflict family and navigating many of my own life transitions. I started my career in community mental health working primarily with victims of trauma in high need communities. I have worked in domestic violence shelters, I have worked with foster youth and young adults, and I have worked with gangs, substance abuse treatment, homeless populations and folks in the prison and forensic population. I continue to serve my community along with my private practice work by working part time with parents mandated for therapy through DCFS and I still teach parenting classes for folks who are system involved.
Therapy for the relationships in your life: Family therapy, Couples or Marriage Therapy, and Business Partnership Therapy: