Somatic Therapists in South Loop, Chicago, IL

Starting therapy is a brave and healthy decision. I do my best to offer a compassionate, non-judgmental space and to honor each client's individual journey towards health and wholeness. I believe humans are doing the best they can and at times need new tools to meet life's challenges. I affirm the basic goodness of people and the desire to be seen and understood. My professional goal is to support clients in making changes towards greater mental and emotional strength and ease. Clients tell me I am warm, empathic, funny, relational, and direct.

Every person deserves to be valued for who they are and where they are in life. Life challenges can lead us to feel disconnected from ourselves. There can be great value in reclaiming our entire selves, with all we have been through and currently face, while stepping into the unknown. Being truly witnessed can help us reconcile our realities, regain hope, and remember our gifts. I wish to honor your life by offering a warm, accepting haven for you to exist, unpack, discover, heal, and co-create your life in light of who you are and the unique opportunities and challenges you experience. You deserve to feel at home with yourself.

I work with adults who are struggling to build the types of relationships they crave. Some of my clients are looking for good friends and community, while others are struggling to find love. Still others find themselves pushing love away, even when it's available. What all of my clients have in common is that they feel anxious, powerless, or hopeless about their situations. Many of my clients are immigrants, and seek a therapist who is sensitive to how cultural factors and (im)migration impact their ability to successfully connect with others.

We all come to therapy for a variety of reasons. You may be coping with the impact of large-scale events, a life transition, or something else that’s been on your mind or showing up in your body. I'm here to provide support and accountability throughout your process. By contextualizing your personal experiences within the larger systems we live in we can recognize systemic harm and facilitate healing. While give attention to your immediate concerns, I will also encourage you to tend to past experiences or parts of yourself that you may be avoiding. This can be key to unlocking insights and solutions for the challenges you face now.

I am a reiki and brainspotting-certified art therapist, yoga teacher. Embodiment & somatic work is a liberation practice, through which we can deepen our compassion for our body's personal, generational, collective stories. Because neurophysiological states inform the stories we tell ourselves, I primarily use Brainspotting as an approach to build regulation, unpack memories, pains and joys, internalized oppression, with the goal of expanding in your capacity for clarity and creativity. It is your birthright to remember fully, your soul origin and life purpose.

As a relational therapist, I focus on supporting and witnessing clients in finding healing, connection, and conflict resolution and repair to ultimately build a life and relationships that honor their values and imagination. Therapy is an opportunity for liberation from dominant social narratives that don’t work for us as individuals or in our relationships, and I recognize the intergenerational and ongoing trauma of struggling against those dominant narratives. All relationships can benefit from this lens – whether they're romantic, platonic, brand new, long-term, with others, or with parts of yourself.

Even as you come into therapy wanting to change, I understand that change can be difficult and confusing at times. I hold the space as a compassionate guide for you to rest into your own self-awareness. We will collaborate to help you discover your authentic path to healing and wholeness. My approach is based on creating genuine interpersonal connection and cultivating mind/body/soul awareness through helping you deepen and trust your connection to self. From this place, you will find more freedom of choice, feeling of purpose and sense of agency in your life.

When we are able to truly understand ourselves and our relationships, we can build a life of genuine meaning and connection. Many people enter into therapy only to find themselves gaining small amounts of insight that produce little or no changes in their life. My therapeutic methods produce results that not only change the way we feel about ourselves in the world but change our behaviors. I am respectful of the fact that everyone's pace and tolerance to different interventions varies. My work is reflective of the care and respect I have for each and every client as individuals.