Philosophy and Approach to Therapy

There are a few foundational philosophies with which I approach my therapy work: 

1) In the spirit of a strengths-based approach, I firmly believe that everyone is doing the best they can given the skills and knowledge they have at the time, and that this is ever-evolving. Everyone has already-existing inherent strengths and more strengths to be discovered. 

2) While I hesitate to use the word 'always', there are, more often than not, multiple truths/perspectives we can hold at once between the opposite extremes in which our minds often lead us, especially the acceptance of ourselves as we are now while also working towards change. 

3) No matter our difficulties and challenges, more compassion, directed towards self and others, 

is essential in living the lives we desire. 

I employ an eclectic approach, using techniques and philosophies from: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Mindfulness-based therapies, Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Narrative Therapy, Trauma-focused therapies, relational therapy, and psychodynamic therapy. It's also important to me that I always keep my work close to the origins of social work, knowing that clients are impacted by a number of systemic and socialized forms of oppression and bias. Thusly, my work is  guided, either in the background or the foreground, by lenses of anti-racism, social justice, anti-stigma, equity, and compassion in action.