As a psychotherapist, I offer a range of specialties:
Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS)
IFS is a groundbreaking evidence-based therapy modality that works with our internal system to recognize and heal the root causes of our mental-health challenges. The modality is revolutionary in that it helps us address the underlying causes of, say, depression or anxiety, rather than trying to tamp down the symptoms. IFS has demonstrated through hundreds of thousands of client sessions that, no matter how difficult our earlier life experiences have been, we all have access to an undamaged core Self that can serve as our inner healer and guide. IFS can be used by individuals, couples, families and groups for deep transformation.
Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score, called IFS the single most effective therapy modality available today. After thousands of hours employing IFS therapy with clients and seeing its transformative results, I would have to agree. Additionally, the addiction expert and palliative care physician Dr. Gabor Maté called IFS “one of the most innovative, intuitive, comprehensive, and transformational therapies to have emerged in the present century.” I am one of the few therapists in western Colorado formally trained in IFS, holding level 3 IFS training certificates, advanced trainings in IFS-based couples counseling, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy with IFS.
Learn more about IFS from psychologist Dr Tori Olds on her outstanding YouTube overview series here. Also, the Rich Roll podcast features a great interview with IFS founder and Harvard Medical School faculty Dr. Richard Schwartz here.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is one of the most powerful tools available for healing past traumas as well as for present-day maladies. Research by the Veterans Administration here has shown EMDR more effective than medication for post-traumatic stress disorder, and EMDR carries the VA’s highest recommendation. I hold a certificate in EMDR and am continually updating my training with the modality to treat a wide range of mental health symptoms.
EMDR is effective not only with trauma, but also with a wide range of other mental-health challenges such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc. Learn more about EMDR here.
I employ cutting-edge EMDR treatments in an effort to provide clients with fast and long-lasting relief. Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and EMDR is one example, click here to learn more.
Long Covid, Chronic Fatigue and Chronic Illness
For those who have been suffering from long Covid, chronic fatigue, chronic Lyme disease, adrenal fatigue, or other chronic illnesses without a successful medical treatment, I want to offer new hope. The research is clear: healing IS possible for many clients! I have trained with internal medicine specialist Dr Howard Schubiner and long Covid specialist Dr Rebecca Kennedy for treating chronic illnesses. I have successfully helped clients resolve long Covid symptoms.
There are no proven medicines to heal long Covid, however there is a proven psychotherapy intervention that can heal long Covid. I use the evidence-based therapeutic approach used by Harvard Medical School in their successful research trial to treat long Covid. Please see more information about the research, along with helpful resources, here.
Additionally, long Covid specialist Dr Rebecca Kennedy has compiled a series of helpful videos explaining her successful approach to treating long Covid and other chronic illnesses. I practice Dr Kennedy’s therapeutic approach for treating long Covid and related illnesses. Please see Dr Kennedy’s instructional video series on treating long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome below:
The Neuroscience of Long Covid, Part 1
The Neuroscience of Long Covid, Part 2
Chronic Pain, Fibromyalgia, POTS syndrome etc
For those who have been struggling with chronic pain, dizziness, or symptoms that come and go randomly, hope is possible! The groundbreaking University of Colorado Boulder Back Pain Study showed that approximately 85% of chronic back pain is due to misfiring neural pathways, i.e. a mind-body misfiring, rather than a direct structural issue. In other words, pain pills and surgeries are rarely effective in healing the vast majority of chronic pain; and many people suffering from chronic pain will find the symptoms migrate or amplify over time. The good news is that the Boulder Back Pain Study showed that a full two-thirds of study participants with severe chronic back pain were able to become either pain free or nearly pain free after a four-week psychotherapy treatment called Pain Reprocessing Therapy. Learn more about the research here.
Similar successes can be found with other chronic illnesses including fibromyalgia, POTS Syndrome, and other syndromes that are often exacerbated by misfiring neural pathways. Here, good psychotherapy may provide a breakthrough treatment.
I hold a certificate in Freedom From Chronic Pain which includes Pain Reprocessing Therapy, led by chronic pain specialist and internal medicine physician Dr Howard Schubiner. For more information and helpful resources, please see the Freedom from Chronic Pain website here. The website also includes pathways for clients to enroll in a structured course for healing.
Additionally, I highly recommend the outstanding documentaries and websites below for more evidence and resources on healing chronic pain:
This Might Hurt Film featuring Dr Howard Schubiner healing chronic pain. This website also has tremendous self-help resources.
Pain Brain documentary which showcases the CU Boulder back pain study successes.
All The Rage documentary featuring the visionary NYU back pain specialist Dr John Sarno.
Dr Schubiner has a great self-help book sharing the cutting edge tools of healing from chronic pain, Unlearn Your Pain. And for more information on POTS syndrome, fibromyalgia and other mind-body symptoms, please see one of Dr Schubiner’s podcast interviews here.
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy
Ketamine is a legal prescription medication, a “dissociative anesthetic” that can create neuroplasticity. Research shows ketamine can provide rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects, and the medicine has been used to treat suicidal ideation, treatment-resistant depression, addiction, among other symptoms. Dr. John Krystal, chief psychiatrist and researcher at Yale Medicine, called ketamine a “game changer.” Click here and here to learn more from Yale Medicine.
Harvard published a 2023 report here showing that ketamine is effective for treatment-resistant depression and had no major side effects compared to the previous gold-standard treatment for treatment-resistant clients.
I hold certificates in ketamine- and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for both individual and group facilitation through the Psychedelic Research and Training Institute. I trained under the leadership of integrative psychiatrist and researcher Scott Shannon. Please see Dr. Shannon’s excellent article on ketamine-assisted psychotherapy here.
I collaborate with local physicians and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners who screen clients and prescribe ketamine when appropriate. Local partners include Roaring Fork Neurology, Satori Integrative Medicine Clinic, and Wild Heart Integrative Health Services, among others.
Ketamine assisted psychotherapy can be used by individuals, couples, and in group therapy settings for optimal therapeutic effect. See a recent Smithsonian article to learn more here.
One important note: Ketamine can open the door for us to do powerful therapeutic work, but it is only a tool for the healing process. It is not a magic bullet. As an analogy, a saw is only a tool for building a new house, it does not create the house on its own. As such, I place a strong emphasis on psychotherapy in preparation sessions, proper set and setting for ketamine journeys, and the essential process of psychotherapeutic integration to help create durable healing results.
Addiction and Recovery
I welcome clients struggling with addiction or compulsive behaviors, and it is my honor to help you in your efforts to break free of addiction. Dr. Gabor Maté describes addiction succinctly: “Addiction is neither a choice nor a disease, but originates in a human being’s desperate attempt to solve a problem: the problem of emotional pain, of overwhelming stress, of lost connection, of loss of control, of a deep discomfort with the self. In short, it is a forlorn attempt to solve the problem of human pain. Hence my mantra: ‘The question is not why the addiction, but why the pain.’ And the source of pain is always and invariably to be found in a person’s lived experience, beginning with childhood.” Learn more on his website here.
I work with a range of modalities and community resources to help clients frame their addictive behaviors in a new light and to bring healing to their tumultuous internal and external landscapes. IFS, EMDR, mindfulness and, when appropriate, ketamine-assisted therapy are some of the interventions I employ. I worked as a clinical mental health intern at Jaywalker Lodge inpatient addiction recovery center in 2022 and I continue to engage in advanced trainings to help clients step forward into a lasting recovery.
Relationships and Couples Counseling
Our relationship to others begins with our relationship to ourselves. With this perspective, I work with clients to be the change they wish to see. This does not mean we tolerate poor behavior or abusive relationships. Rather, we become clear, we develop self-awareness, and we gain insights into how we may have co-created the situations we find ourselves in. With this knowledge, we can employ skillful and wise action to create the relationship of our dreams or to untangle ourselves from stuck relationships.
I bring expertise and heartfelt support to your journey of upgrading your relationships and, most importantly, your relationship to yourself. I work with individuals, couples and families. I have completed advanced training in couples counseling through the Internal Family Systems institute incorporating the Intimacy From The Inside Out approach. For wonderful self-help resources on improving relationships, please see the books Bring Yourself to Love by Mona Barbera and You Are The One You’ve Been Waiting For by Dr Richard Schwartz.
Grief, Loss, and Life Transitions
Whether we are struggling with a divorce, the death of a loved one, or a life-threatening illness, these major life shakeups provide a potent opportunity to go inward and to discover the healing potential waiting for us on the other side of the pain. Often, fear is the doorway that we must walk through to find liberation. I incorporate the latest healing modalities to help you safely explore fear, loss, and pain. When these challenges are approached mindfully and with expert support, we can discover new levels of courage, compassion and strength within ourselves.
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, “Maybe every terror is, at absolute bottom, only something helpless, wanting our help.” I use IFS, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) and other modalities to bring healing to those tender and deeply scared aspects of ourselves that are seeking a higher sense of safety and comfort. While we may not be able to escape life’s transitions themselves, we can heal the anxiety, the fear, the depression and the sense of isolation that can accompany these major events.
Psychedelic Integration
With the decriminalization of plant medicines in Colorado including psilocybin, DMT, mescaline and ibogaine, many people are experimenting with psychedelics. As a trained and certified psychedelic-assisted therapist, I specializes in helping clients prepare for and/or integrate psychedelic experiences. I bring decades of experience in mindfulness, interfaith spiritual study and neuroscience research to my role as a psychedelic-assisted therapist. My goal is to work within your personal value system and help you unpack the realizations, resurfaced memories, or life-changing questions that can occur during psychedelic journeys.
Related to psychedelic insights and the study of consciousness, the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to researchers who shook the foundation of reality by demonstrating that consciousness is not something that arises from inert matter, as we have traditionally been taught through biology classes, but rather consciousness exists prior to matter. Essentially the research revealed a powerful therapeutic insight: our thoughts can create our experience of the world, and the universe is participatory with consciousness. Learn more about the groundbreaking Nobel Prize research in a Scientific American article here and in a video interview with cognitive science professor Donald Hoffman at the 39:00 mark here. At whatever level you choose to explore psychedelics, I can serve as grounded therapist to help you integrate your journeys.