I started therapy for depression and complicated grief right after graduating from college, and it helped me a lot. I decided to become a social worker to help others experience the same thing, and I decided to specialize in mental health therapy because I like getting to know clients one-on-one and watching them grow over time.

I like to assign therapy "homework," so it helps to have clients who are willing to try things outside of session. I also have a somewhat directive approach, so I prefer clients who want to have a conversation over clients who are looking for a mirror to bounce their thoughts off of.

Your therapist isn't judging you! Therapists tend to be the kind of people who just like people in general, plus we have seen a lot of different people with a lot of different problems. I'm not going to be surprised or offended if you show (or don't hide) the ways in which you're struggling.

In the first session, I will ask a ridiculous amount of questions as part of getting to know you and what you're hoping to get out of therapy. I will try to provide you the information you need to make an informed choice about whether to start ongoing therapy with me, as well as answer your questions. Finally, I like to provide a small, easy mental health skill or technique that I think will be helpful for you, so that you can start feeling even just a tiny bit better right away.

I am queer and genderqueer, invisibly disabled, religious, partnered, a parent, and nerdy.

I start by assuming that you are the expert on your life and that you already have lots of useful coping strategies, whether you know it or not. I also welcome feedback on what we're doing together that is and isn't working. I have learned a lot of different approaches to therapy so that we have flexibility to change tactics whenever we need to.