My work is informed by contemplative psychotherapy and relational mindfulness, alongside trauma-informed approaches that support nervous system regulation. These ways of working share a common aim: helping us feel resourced enough to stay present with our experience, rather than becoming overwhelmed or disconnected from it. Central to this is the therapeutic relationship itself, which provides a grounded, attuned context in which this kind of presence can gradually develop.
I work with people to develop a quality of spacious, reflective awareness within the safety of a collaborative therapeutic relationship. This is sometimes called witness consciousness or dual awareness, where we are able to be in our experience while also reflecting on it. When we are sufficiently resourced, and when our experience is met with attunement and care, we can work through emotional difficulty without becoming lost in it, allowing us to move from reactivity to responsiveness and choice.
Working in this way often helps us notice patterns in our inner life as they arise in real time, including how they show up in relationship. Together, we can explore how you relate to different aspects of experience. This may include your thinking and habitual mental formations, your embodied sense of self, your perceptions and meanings, your feelings and sensations, and your relationship with awareness itself. As we bring attention to these dimensions and stay in relationship with them, and with each other, something can begin to shift. Awareness, held in a grounded and relational way, can support deep structural change and greater openness.
This work is supported by a compassionate attitude toward our inner life, and by a therapeutic relationship that can hold vulnerability, uncertainty, and the places where pain or shadow are present. Rather than avoiding what is difficult, we learn to turn toward it together, at a pace that feels workable. From this place, moments of connection, clarity, and aliveness can emerge naturally, without being forced or pushed.
I work in a trauma-informed way, with an emphasis on safety, resourcing, present-time orientation, and helping clients differentiate past from present. Particular care is taken to ensure that the work remains grounded, collaborative, and responsive to your nervous system, so that depth is approached without overwhelm.
