My Philosophy
No one escapes from life without some struggle and suffering. It is my passion to join people at some of their lowest points in life and to participate in their story of healing and hope. Sometimes participation is more passive—bearing witness to an untold story, entering into your pain with you—and sometimes it is more active, using my knowledge of cognitive-behavioral interventions or family systems to provide coaching and encouragement.
Too often, therapists ask about every dimension of life, from medical history to sexual history, but fail to ask about their clients’ spiritual lives. I specialize in faith-sensitive counseling—that is, meeting you where you are in your spiritual walk. For some, this may mean standing beside you while you ask tough questions—why did God let that happen to me? Does God even exist? For others, it may mean helping you to close that distance between what you believe to be true in faith, and what you experience in your heart. I have frequently heard folks say, “I know the Bible says God loves me, but why don’t I feel that?” While I am a Christian and have advanced theological training, I welcome people of all backgrounds and faiths (or no faith at all) and will endeavor to understand your spiritual perspective and experience from the inside out.
Our belief systems—both about ourselves, the world, and even God—are often distorted by painful experiences in our youth or early adulthood. For example, some people learn to reject or judge their more vulnerable emotions because it wasn’t safe to express them when they were young. To be emotional was to be weak. Some people come to believe through repeated losses, disappointments, or mistreatment, that they are not worthy of being loved with compassion and understanding. Or maybe you only feel worthy when you are “perfect”—pretty enough, thin enough, successful enough—you fill in the blank. It is my job to create a safe and trusting environment where you can examine your core beliefs, experience emotion without judgment, and experiment with new ways of being. When negative core beliefs are rooted in trauma, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) can be an effective tool for achieving transformation. I am trained in EMDR, and over the last five years, I have found it to be extremely helpful in liberating people from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as anxiety and depression that are rooted in childhood abuse (verbal, physical, or sexual) and even more subtle forms of emotional neglect. If you are interested in learning more about EMDR, click here to read a brief introduction.
Biography
My first passion in life was reading and writing short stories. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I was eight, I would have said “a writer.” I came to study counseling only after studying English and American literature at Middlebury College and then at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. I went on to do a Master’s degree in Modernism, also at the University of East Anglia, before I realized I didn’t like spending that much time in the library! Now, I realize that my early love for literature and my later commitment to psychotherapy are not so far afield. I am forever fascinated by the depths, corners, and surprises of human nature.
After four years of drinking tea and eating chocolate digestives, I returned to America and earned a joint degree in Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a non-denominational Protestant seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. I went on to work in community mental health for six years, gaining invaluable experience helping folks with a wide array of problems, ranging from depression, panic attacks, PTSD and eating disorders, to adjustment issues related to marriage, parenting, divorce, and life transitions.
Now, when I am not drinking coffee in my office, I get to study human nature close up with my toughest clientele yet—ages 15, 10, and 8 years, and of course, my husband. They teach me something every day. When I need a break from those lessons (which is often), I love to run on the back country roads, go out to dinner and laugh with friends, and even read a short story or two.
Insurances Accepted
Anthem and NH Blue Cross/Blue Shield
Medicaid (NH Healthy Families/Ambetter/Cenpatico/Amerihealth)
Harvard Pilgrim
United Behavioral Health
Tufts