Areas We Can Work on Together
I work with adults recovering from trauma and violence, including survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, incarceration, and other overwhelming experiences. I also have extensive experience supporting law-enforcement professionals and first responders who face repeated exposure to crisis, danger, loss, and responsibility.
Therapy may address concerns including:
- Domestic violence, sexual assault, and other interpersonal trauma
- Work-related and cumulative trauma experienced by first responders and law enforcement
- Experiences involving incarceration or the criminal-justice system
- Anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, or emotional disconnection following trauma
- Shame, self-blame, guilt, and difficulty trusting yourself
- Difficulty feeling safe in relationships or establishing healthy boundaries
- Anger, irritability, and reactions that feel difficult to control
- Rebuilding confidence, identity, and a sense of direction after painful experiences
You do not need to tell your entire story during the first session. We can begin with what is affecting your life now and move at a pace that respects your safety and readiness.
What Trauma Therapy With Me Is Like
My approach is compassionate, collaborative, and respectful of your autonomy. Trauma often involves having control taken away, so I believe therapy should help restore your sense of choice rather than create another situation in which you feel pressured or powerless.
We may begin by identifying what helps you feel more grounded and able to manage difficult emotions. As our work continues, we can explore how past experiences have shaped your thoughts, relationships, expectations, and ways of protecting yourself.
I will help you make sense of reactions that may currently feel confusing or self-defeating. Together, we can examine beliefs that developed through trauma, recognize coping strategies that no longer serve you, and develop different ways of responding to stress, relationships, and painful memories.
The goal is not to erase what happened or force you to relive every detail. It is to reduce the amount of control the past has over your present life and help you reconnect with your strength, choices, relationships, and hopes for the future.
Recovery is rarely a straight line. There may be periods of progress followed by difficult days or unexpected reminders. Therapy can provide a steady place to understand those experiences without treating them as evidence that you have failed.
Support for First Responders and Law Enforcement
First responders and law-enforcement professionals often work in cultures that reward staying composed, taking responsibility, and continuing to function regardless of what has happened. Those qualities may help you perform your job while making it harder to recognize when repeated exposure has begun affecting your sleep, mood, relationships, or sense of safety.
You may also worry that seeking therapy means you are no longer capable of doing your job or that someone outside the field will not understand its realities.
My background in the criminal-justice field helps me understand the particular pressures faced by law enforcement and first responders. Therapy can provide space to process difficult experiences, manage accumulated stress, strengthen relationships, and develop ways of coping that do not require you to ignore or disconnect from what you feel.
Professional and Personal Understanding of Trauma
I have spent much of my career working in the criminal-justice field and hold graduate degrees in both criminal justice and social work. This combination helps me understand trauma both as an individual experience and as something that can occur within families, institutions, workplaces, and larger systems.
My understanding of trauma is also personal. I share that not because I assume your experiences are the same as mine, but because I know recovery can be difficult, nonlinear, and possible.
I have seen people carry the effects of violence and trauma for years. I have also seen people reclaim their voices, establish safer relationships, reconnect with parts of themselves they thought were lost, and create lives that are no longer organized entirely around what happened to them.
You do not need to feel strong before beginning therapy. We can start with what you are carrying now and work toward greater safety, understanding, resilience, and choice.
Insurance and Payment
I accept Blue Cross and Blue Shield, UnitedHealthcare, UMR, Medica, Optum, Student Resources, Midlands Choice, Aetna, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan Medicaid, and Molina Medicaid.
I also welcome self-pay clients who prefer not to use insurance for therapy. Coverage and out-of-pocket costs vary by plan, and I can help you verify your benefits before your first appointment.
Contact me to schedule a free consultation and determine whether working together feels like a good fit.