Trauma and PTSD Therapists in Charlottesville, VA

If you are experiencing intense anxiety, relationship issues, depression, and/or just feeling stuck, change is possible. I believe that the relationship between client and therapist opens pathways to healing and clients can discover the truth of their own inner strength and resources. I would like to help you on your journey to explore, learn, and encourage movement towards greater self-awareness, deeper peace, and achieve more meaning and joy from relationships. To achieve these goals, I believe that a customized approach in therapy is most effective in helping people make positive changes in their lives.

Feelings of sadness and anxiety from unhealed loss and unresolved life circumstances can cripple our capacity to manage our lives. This work offers clarity through tools that deal directly with life changes and the effects of trauma and addictions. With an overall focus on life transitions and jarring wake-up calls that challenge who we believe ourself to be, the work creates Ah Ha experiences and insights that release blocks and bring us home to ourselves - body, mind, emotions, spirit. Individuals. Couples. Groups. Workshops. Retreats. Intuition guides the work which is backed by 30 years of intense clinical specialty with addictions, trauma and dis-ease.

I love helping people find their true freedom in life! To be all that you truly are with confidence. You may be feeling stressed, overwhelmed, afraid, anxious, confused, sad, depressed, hopeless, angry ... or something else. Together we'll create a safe space for you to land with what's bothering you. We'll start with where you are, draw strength from the things that are already working well in your life, unravel and release what's got you stuck and keeping you from living the life you want.

I am a Trauma Informed-Bilingual clinician focused on providing mental health services to the local community. I have worked in the mental health field since 2011 through various agencies such: as Region Ten, ReadyKids, Albemarle County, Charlottesville City Schools, Mary Ainsworth Attachment Clinic, and The Women's Initiative. I have experience in treating adults, and teens with complex trauma , anxiety, depression, domestic violence, sexual abuse, attachment disorders, neglect, and immigration trauma .

My past experiences of working with at-risk populations has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of trauma on an individual. While I support clients with a wide range of traumatic experiences, I consider myself an ally of survivors of sexual trauma in particular; I understand the pain and confusion that people experience and the many ways in which these experiences impact one's mental health. I hold an accepting, welcoming environment so we can work together through these past experiences to help you find peace in the present.

I have extensive experience supporting clients who suffer from trauma -related disorders, including intimate partner violence, childhood abuse/sexual abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and loss and grief issues. We will work together as partners in your treatment, developing a plan to process your trauma and move from the role of victim to that of a strong and successful survivor. I also have experience working with clients who have other anxiety-related disorders and now offer online sessions via HIPAA compliant, secure, easy to use platform. Easy online scheduling.

I focus on individual Trauma , Couples, and Family. With years of family and individual work I've developed a flexible ability to meet adult and teen needs from parenting, marital, to trauma and developmental transitions of life. My work is informed from an attachment approach where I seek to create safety with you to untie negative relational patterns and move into greater awareness and courage. I assist you in rediscovering your resiliency to pull you beyond the old patterns. To assist my clients when balance is upset by an underlying issue of trauma , my training in AEDP coupled with EMDR and somatic approaches is well suited.

I believe people strive to live the best life they possibly can. At times, life can throw in a few challenges and reaching out for help is not always easy. I am here to help! Together we can face those challenges and get you closer to your goals. I work with adults, adolescents, children, families, and couples who may have experienced trauma or whom may feel overwhelmed, lonely, hopeless, afraid, worthless, angry or unmotivated. I use play therapy, solution-focused, strengths-based, and person-centered techniques to help people heal and grow. I am also trained in EMDR.

Now accepting clients for couple therapy: Clients tend to come into therapy with feelings like anxiety, sadness, resentment, or disappointment. Couples may have unresolved relationship conflicts, needing reconnection and healing. They may also be seeking help with infertility, birth loss or trauma , postpartum depression or anxiety, parenting issues, divorce, grief, or complicated childhood experiences that impact the current relationship. We work together to close the gaps of disconnection and bring you closer, repairing the ruptures you have with less pain and more vulnerability and safety.

I'll help you build trust in your ability to make the best choices for yourself. This means creating awareness of ways you can be more gentle and accepting of yourself as you are now, in addition to identifying areas that you are ready to change. I work with adults of all ages, and have a particular affinity for working with college-aged individuals and young professionals. I strive to meet people with where they are at by providing trauma -informed, culturally-humble support using evidenced-based modalities. This may include a mix of interpersonal, strengths-based, mindfulness, CBT and DBT techniques.

I am a firm believer in evidence based treatments and have extensive training and practice in such. That being said, I recognize that "evidence" is usually based on outcomes of clinical trials with very controlled environments where very specific populations with very specific diagnoses are treated. Thus, I find that I am most effective when adapting, integrating and tailoring treatments to my clients' individual needs.