Are you offering in-person or telehealth appointments?
I am currently offering only telehealth services to people who are located in Ohio. I am not currently offering in-person appointments.
Do you see people who are not parents?
I do! I see people who have anxiety, depression, trauma or are navigating any kind of life transition (examples might beginning or ending a higher education journey, moving away from home, starting a new job, beginning or ending a relationship, etc).
What can I expect in a first session?
When we book our first intake session, I’ll send you some paperwork through secure portal that has some history information and my practice policies. You’ll fill this out before you come in. In the first session, we’ll discuss your expectations for therapy (it’s okay if you’re not sure!), symptoms you may be having, and some things such as health and relationship history. I might ask you some clarifying questions about the info in your paperwork. You also get a chance to ask me questions about me and about therapy in general. Potential clients should be aware that the full session fee or copay applies to the first session.
How can I expect our sessions to go?
The structure of sessions is fairly dependent on your preferences, your expectations for therapy and the modalities we decide to use. If we are doing EMDR therapy, that will look different than a non-EMDR therapy session. I make it a priority, as part of practicing ongoing informed consent, that my clients know why we do what we do, and so you can expect frequent check-ins from me to ensure I am explaining myself clearly. Sometimes, you may have an agenda or things you wish to discuss. Sometimes, you may not and we will set an agenda for session together. Sometimes, I notice certain things and will ask your permission to use some of our session time to discuss those things.
How do I know if I’m ready to come to therapy?
Therapy can be beneficial at pretty much any life stage or during any life season. That being said, people often make the decision to pursue therapy when they’ve tried a bunch of other things first. Maybe they’ve talked to friends or family about their problem, maybe they’ve been journaling or exercising or they’ve changed jobs or started eating more nutritious food, but they’ve still got this shame or guilt or rage or scary thoughts that won’t go away. They might feel like they’re not justified in coming to therapy (“Isn’t this the life I wanted?”), or they might be pretty nervous about being judged (even if they know therapy is supposed to be non-judgmental). The folks I work with are often pretty unhappy, even if they’re the only people who know how unhappy they really are.
Is therapy the best thing for me right now?
That’s a good question. Therapy is really just one of the things that we can do to take care of ourselves. If you’re struggling with symptoms that impact your daily functioning or get in the way of you showing up for your life, that’s probably a good sign that therapy may help. We’ll get to the answer for this question more thoroughly in a first session. Similarly, if you’ve tried all the other things you’re supposed to try, and nothing has been helpful or sustaining, that’s also an indicator that therapy can be a good next step.
Other questions? I’m happy to answer them.