In today’s culture, we are seeing an increasing emphasis on the importance of mental health. While reducing stigma and increasing awareness around psychological wellbeing is valuable, I also think it can contribute to a narrative about “needing therapy”. For a lot of people, though, this is not a question about “need” – it’s about want. Learning how to tap into your own wants and desires can be an incredibly powerful experience – and that includes wanting to know yourself at a deeper level. Often, this unlocks pathways we weren’t even aware were available to us. If you’re feeling caught up in the question of if you really “need” therapy, I’d encourage you to give yourself the space to step away from that question and explore if therapy might be a path towards something that you want instead.

Therapy is a process of coming into closer contact with all parts of yourself. What do you see in the mirror, what do you let others see, and what are others seeing that you might not even recognize in yourself? By holding a space that is both curious and honest, I work to help you explore how you got to be where you are in life, including the impact of your various identities within our society and culture. We’ll work together to leverage that insight into ways of moving through the world that feel aligned with your own values.

For some people, this process might look like a short-term treatment aimed at specific and concrete goals. For others, this may be a longer-term, exploratory experience, aimed at resolving internal conflict and feeling more integrated in yourself. While I am primarily a relational, psychodynamic clinician, I have familiarity working across multiple styles of therapeutic treatment. Accordingly, I work to develop an approach that meets your needs, keeping the work focused on what brought you into treatment and ultimately empowering you to recognize and inhabit your own agency.

There is no special marker for when it’s time to shift or to wind down our work together. Maybe life circumstances have changed, new challenges have come up, or you’re feeling excited about trying out new skills on your own. I believe that part of therapy is learning to recognize those moments in life where multiple possibilities open up in front of you and gaining the confidence to choose your next step. All options are valid, and I approach this conversation with the same honesty, curiosity, and respect for your agency that I bring to all aspects of my work.

Endings are a part of life, and often one of the most challenging processes to navigate. In my work with clients, we may explore how endings factor into our time together. This could be the end of individual therapy, a shift in the frequency with which we meet, or just the end of a particular phase of our treatment. If we do decide to end our work together, I’ll want to collaborate with you about the amount of time that feels right to say goodbye. The process of winding down treatment, or “termination”, is often one of the most powerful phases of a therapy. It can be a time of recognizing just how much your life has changed since we began our work together. It can also be a chance to explore possible feelings of guilt, grief, or abandonment, and find out what is important for you in processing the other goodbyes (past, present, and future) in your life.