After extensive training with the Denver Center for Solution Focused Brief Therapy, I began using this model to help my clients get unstuck from their problems. With this approach, I never position myself as the expert in your life, but I use questions to support you in defining the future you want and concrete actions for getting there. This model helps us notice the small incremental changes we make each day, that capitalize on your own sometimes unacknowledged inner strengths, resources, and capacities. We can alleviate complicated mental health symptoms, reduce or eliminate substances that are not serving your goals, and activate new patterns of behavior that support your overall wellness.

When supporting a client who is facing a traumatic past or adverse events, I have learned that it is so important to have use a treatment modality that involves your body and allows for somatic reprocessing of the experience. EMDR uses simple eye movements or tapping to support your brain’s natural healing processes and allow for painfully stored memories to be resolved. This well-researched and understood method can be faster and at times more effective than traditional talk-therapy methods. With basic level training from the EMDR institute, I have used this method for individuals facing complex “BIG T” traumas from combat or abuse, as well as “little t” traumas like difficult break ups or unresolved family of origin conflicts.

When coping skills, interpersonal skills, and new ways of managing emotions are needed, there’s no better tool kit than the package designed by Marsha Linehan. Often referred to as “CBT on steroids” or “CBT with a mindfulness bend,” I have practiced this model since my very beginnings as a therapist after intensive foundational training at the Behavioral Health Institute. This model has the ability to change the way you think, helping you to hone your own ability to mindfully approach life, and can alleviate cycles of suffering. While some clients experience this method as a life-saving salve during a crisis, others remark that this package surprises them as it contains all the life skills that they wish they’d been taught in their youth.

I utilize a combination of skill building and solution focused techniques to support couples in finding their shared vision for the future and to discover strengths from their intimate bond that can be used to get there. This brief intervention is not typically covered by health insurance, as there is no “client with a health problem” but rather a dyad working towards a shared goal.