What Is Psychotherapy? What is Psychoanalysis?

A long path lined with redwoods stretches out into the distance on a foggy day.

"All that you touch, you Change.
All that you Change, Changes you.
The only lasting truth is Change."
- Octavia E Butler

Psychotherapy and psychoanalysis can help you change. But, change is not easy. You'll probably find things you've buried begin to make their way to the surface. You might feel things you haven't felt in a long time. You might feel things that hurt. And you might feel relief, hope, despair, frustration, and a lot of feelings you have pushed aside. Getting connected to what's going on inside of you can create opportunities to live a more authentic life, and become connected to your voice, your choice, and your passion.

Getting to know yourself through psychotherapy is rarely linear. We're working to deeply know the habits, patterns, and emotions that feel repetitive and limiting. This means you might stumble across things that you thought you'd "dealt with", and uncover more questions each time you dig a little deeper.

My specialties include:

  • Grief and loss, including complicated and ongoing grief

  • Grappling with the tension between individuation and collaboration

  • Self-discovery and dream work

  • Working on recognizing and undoing allegiances to harmful social and familial messages

  • Folks who assumed the role of a "parentified child", or had to grow up too fast

  • Children of parents with mental illness, and adult children of alcoholics

  • People who struggle with impulsivity and self-sabotage

  • Self-criticism and anxiety; social anxiety and intrusive thoughts

  • Unblocking creative limitations and freezes

In addition to weekly psychotherapy, I also offer psychoanalysis. With more frequent contact in psychoanalysis (3-5 times per week), there is room for your unconscious to communicate via dreams and associations. If you are interested in this kind of deep dive, let’s talk.

You may not know what you want when you first start therapy. Self-discovery is kind of like looking up at the night sky. As your eyes start to slowly adjust, the stars seem to appear brighter and more numerous, and I think this is similar to what happens when you start to know yourself. There is a life waiting to be lived, if only you are willing to take the chance. Perhaps there is more inside of you than you could possibly have imagined.  

I can be of best help to you when we meet regularly, at least one or more times per week, so that when we make discoveries together you're not left alone to feel and figure it out by yourself. We'll find a time that works for both of us, and meet until you feel ready to stop.

"[We] contain multitudes."- Walt Whitman

 We are complex beings, and therapy can help you find joy and power in your complexity.