HealthPartners of MN and WI Therapists in Minneapolis, MN

Seeking out help can be a difficult decision. You want a therapist you feel comfortable with and can trust with your story. My approach to therapy is compassionate, empathetic, kind, and collaborative. My goal is for clients to feel safe, supported, heard, and understood. I work alongside you as you develop insight into your experiences. This insight can lead to feeling empowered to implement changes in your life. I believe that the therapeutic process of change includes the following: an understanding of feelings and behaviors, developing healthy coping skills, feeling connected to others, and maintaining balance and moderation in life.

Balancing daily stressors, maintaining relationships, and establishing a meaningful life can at times be overwhelming and hard to manage. Therapy is a wonderful space for emotional healing, building healthy relationships, and discovering that we are greater than our hardships. As a therapist, I meet clients where they are at by building upon existing strengths and providing a nonjudgmental space for self-exploration and growth. I strongly believe in establishing authentic, honest connections that meet the diverse needs of individuals.

I believe an honest and healthy therapeutic relationship between a person and their provider sets the foundation for successful therapy. Therefore, I will prioritize building a safe and trusting relationship when working with you and your family.

I have over twenty years of experience as a psychotherapist treating children, individuals and families. I have been intensively trained as a child psychoanalytic psychotherapist, which has given me the basis to understand and to integrate diverse techniques during my practice for the assessment and treatment of people with different disorders. I greatly enjoy working with the Hispanic population and I have a clear understanding and respect of the cultural values and traditions of the community.

People begin seeing a therapist for many reasons--you may be experiencing overwhelming stress, feeling a sense of hopelessness or loss of meaning in your life, living with painful grief, coping with traumatic past or present events, suffering in relationships, or simply feeling "stuck." In our sessions together, you and I will explore your goals, wishes, feelings, and concerns, with the aim of moving toward natural wholeness within yourself and in your relationships with others, in an atmosphere of warmth, authenticity, and acceptance.

Real change comes from understanding why our own impulses and behaviors hold us back from experiencing our true potential and discovering the skills to create the change we seek. I believe in a holistic, person-centered approach to therapy that helps people find the answers that were inside them all along. As a therapist, I am intuitive and compassionate, yet direct, and employ a mix of modalities, including traditional psychotherapy, cognitive therapy and mindfulness techniques.

Everyone at different points in life experiences difficult circumstances and issues that cause stress, anxiety, sadness, grief, anger, confusion, and other responses that impact the quality of our lives and relationships. My goal is to create a safe and accepting context for clients to discuss their struggles and specific problems, heal from psychological, social, and spiritual injury, and develop effective methods for coping with life’s challenges. Please feel free to contact me if you are struggling with anxiety, depression, stress, recent loss or trauma, work-related issues, relationship problems, or spiritual abuse.

It is my experience that the fullest, most satisfying healing involves our whole person, mind, body, and spirit. By focusing on patterns of movement in the body as well as thinking, we work together to achieve your goals for therapy. A body based and energetic focus is often a new and effective way for people to resolve issues that only talking about them did not reach. I look for resistance and protective actions that no longer serve a person. I emphasize developing aliveness in the body, feeling joyful, free, and peace.

Life gets hard, messy, and overwhelming which can lead us to feel like we’re not good enough. We get stuck in the stories of our inner critic and everything just feels harder. We turn to disconnection, numbing out, or over-working to get by. Somewhere along the way, we might even lose connection with our self and the people who matter to us. It can be difficult to understand why we’re feeling this way and what our needs are.