I have been influenced by a variety of modalities in my experiences as a therapist, student, and as a client myself. The following are some of the highlights, which show up often in my work today.

Gestalt Therapy

In a nutshell, Gestalt therapy helps us become whole by bringing awareness to what we are experiencing in the present moment—emotionally, physically, and relationally—so that we can reclaim ownership of our feelings, choices, and patterns.

Rather than focusing on analyzing the past or labeling problems, Gestalt therapy emphasizes:

• Awareness – helping people notice what they are doing, feeling, and avoiding right now. This may seem elementary, but we can be shockingly good at avoiding our experience.

• Contact – deepening how people connect with themselves, others, and their environment.

• Integration – supporting people to unify conflicting parts of themselves, so they feel more whole and alive, and spend less energy in the war within between conflicting parts.

• Responsibility – encouraging people to take ownership of their experience, which can be empowering and healing.

It’s experiential, often using creative experiments (like role play or body awareness or movement) to help people step into new perspectives—not just talk about them.

The goal isn’t to “fix” someone, but to support authentic growth by helping people land where they really are, and be their uninhibited selves.

Somatic Therapy

Somatic therapy helps people get better by tuning into the body as a gateway to healing emotional pain, trauma, and stress.

The core idea is that the body holds onto experiences—especially those that were overwhelming or unresolved—and talking alone isn’t always enough to release them.

Somatic therapy helps by:

• Bringing awareness to bodily sensations, posture, breath, tension, and movement.

• Tracking the nervous system to notice patterns of activation (fight/flight) and shutdown (freeze/collapse).

• Regulating the nervous system through movement, breath work, vocalizations, and touch (when asked for, and when appropriate).

• Allowing stuck emotions and trauma to complete their cycle, so the body and mind can return to a state of balance and flow. When we can meet whatever is in the body and help it move and express itself, we find that it can be pleasant to just sit and be, and not have to engage in so much addictive behavior (workaholism, alcoholism, excessive Tik Tok, etc.)

Parts Work

Parts work therapy helps people get better by helping them understand and heal the different “parts” or sub-personalities within themselves—especially the ones that carry pain, fear, or protective roles.

Instead of seeing yourself as one unified self with a single voice, parts work (like Focusing, or Internal Family Systems, or IFS) sees the mind as a system of parts, each with its own perspective, emotion, and role. For example:

• One part might be angry and reactive.

• Another might be anxious and always trying to please.

• Another might carry deep shame or sadness.

• And beneath it all is a core Self—calm, curious, compassionate.

Parts work helps by:

• Making space to hear each part’s story without judgment.

• Soothing and unburdening wounded or exiled parts that carry trauma or pain.

• Helping protective parts relax, once they trust that healing is possible.

• Reconnecting to Self-energy, so you can lead your inner system with compassion and clarity.

In essence, parts work helps you become a wise inner parent to the parts inside you that are stuck, scared, or fighting. That’s often when real healing and transformation begin.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people get better by teaching them to recognize, challenge, and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that are fueling their distress.

The core idea is simple:

Thoughts → Feelings → Behaviors
If your thoughts are distorted (like “I’m a failure” or “Nothing ever works out”), they affect how you feel and what you do.

CBT helps by:

• Identifying negative thinking patterns (like catastrophizing, black-and-white thinking, or mind-reading).

• Challenging those thoughts with evidence and more balanced perspectives.

• Changing behaviors through action-based strategies (like exposure, scheduling, or problem-solving).

• Building skills to manage anxiety, depression, or stress more effectively.

It’s practical, structured, and goal-oriented—great for client’s who want tools to feel better and regain a sense of control over their minds and lives.

In short, CBT says:

If you change how you think and act, you can change how you feel.

Client-Centered and Trauma-informed Therapy

In client-centered therapy, I am looking to create a certain kind of environment in our therapeutic space that fosters acceptance and growth. This kind of space includes the following ingredients:

• Unconditional positive regard – I accept you completely, without judgment. Simply put, I am uninterested in judging anyone for anything in a therapeutic envrionment.

• Empathy – I seek to deeply understand your experience from your point of view.

• Congruence – You meet the actual me, not a clinician hiding behind a professional mask.

When these three conditions are present, people often begin to:

• Feel safe enough to drop defenses.

• Discover what they really feel, want, and believe.

• Make changes from the inside out—not because they’re told to, but because they’ve reconnected with themselves.

Trauma-informed therapy recognizes that people can be overwhelmed when touching certain discussions, or felt senses related to past traumas. In order to avoid unnecessary suffering, and best integrate therapy sessions, I utilize techniques such as

• Bilateral Stimulation, such as alternate tapping, or eye movement (EMDR influenced)

• Titration, and touch and go. We make limited contact with sensations that feel challenging, then bring attention to a sensation or image that feels less intense

• Not having an agenda. It is not important to me that you discuss, revisit or re-experience traumatic events, I follow your lead when it comes to discussing and experiencing anything related to the past.

Interested in learning more about how therapy and coaching can help you? Schedule a free 20 minute consultation below: