PERSON CENTERED vs. PROBLEM CENTERED
My position on mental health is first and foremost that people are not the problems that bring them to therapy. I work hard to contextualize individual concerns within the fabric of every day living by bringing the intersectionality of race, gender, class, sexual identity, body politics, and other societal discourses into the conversation in order to consider how they might be playing a role on a person’s well being. These frameworks stem from my study of narrative therapy, feminist theory, queer theory, and other poststucturalist lenses that help situate people away from a singular understanding of themselves and/or their diagnoses that can otherwise be shaming and cause a sense of powerlessness. As I get to know my clients, I listen for their values and dreams, which have more often than not been cast aside from consciousness by generalized labels and normative ways of evaluating and measuring the self. I find that there is a world of possibility that lives in people's histories and life experiences. My intention is to attend to multi-faceted conversations that allow people to tell their stories, thereby expanding the way they see themselves and clarifying both what they stand for and how they choose to navigate through the world.
RELATIONAL/INTEGRATIVE/EMBODIED
I hold the perspective that we are in relationship with all the aspects of our lives, and included in that paradigm is our relationship with both ourselves and the systems we are embedded in. In addition to my theoretical orientations, I utilize holistic and integrative modalities such as meditation, and somatic techniques including EFT to help people calm their nervous systems in order to be able to weigh their problems from a calm, and relaxed state of body and mind. I believe that unresolved experiences are held in the body's systems as minor or major traumas (including current and past ancestral and generational traumas caused by systemic oppressions), and that this demonstrates the body’s natural ability to protect itself from harm. Likewise, the body also has a natural ability to heal and process the held onto experiences when given the right opportunity in the form of a safe, encouraging, supportive, and judgement free environment that good therapy can provide.