My Method: How We'll Work Together
Healing isn't about being fixed. It's about feeling safe enough to come back to yourself, one steady step at a time.
If you've tried therapy before and it felt cold, rushed, or like you were being handed coping skills before anyone understood what you were actually carrying, I want you to know there's another way to do this. My approach is built around one quiet idea: your nervous system has to feel safe before any real change can happen. Everything below grows from that.
Safety Comes First, Always
Trauma-informed simply means I treat your sense of safety as the foundation, not an afterthought. I won't push you to relive anything before you're ready, and I won't treat your coping patterns as problems to be corrected. The way you've been getting through is information, not evidence that something is wrong with you. We start by making the room (even a virtual one) feel like a place you can exhale.
Your Nervous System Leads
So much of anxiety, overwhelm, and shutdown lives in the body, not just the thoughts. That's why "just think positive" or "just relax" so rarely works, your body learned to stay alert to keep you safe, and it won't be argued out of it. Together we'll pay attention to what your nervous system is doing and help it learn, gently and gradually, that it's safe to settle. When the body feels steadier, the mind has room to do the deeper work.
What Working Together Looks Like
Everyone's path is a little different, but here's the general shape of how we move:
A free, no-pressure consultation
We start with a short conversation about what's bringing you in and what you're hoping for. There's no commitment, this is also where you get to feel out whether I'm the right fit for you.
Getting to know your story
Early sessions are unhurried. I'll learn about your life, your patterns, and what matters to you. You set the pace for what you share and when.
Building safety and steadiness
Before we dig into anything heavy, we build a foundation, practical ways to help your nervous system feel more regulated and resourced in everyday life.
Understanding your patterns
We turn the light on how you operate, the automatic responses, the beliefs running underneath, so you can see them clearly and decide what still serves you.
Practical tools and real-life change
This is where insight becomes practice. We build tools you can actually use between sessions, so change takes hold in your real, daily life, not just in the therapy room.
Ongoing support, and knowing when you're ready
Some people stay for a season of intensive work; others check in periodically. There's no pressure to stay longer than you need. The goal is for you to feel steady enough to carry this forward on your own.
The Approaches I Blend
I don't believe in one rigid method for every person. My style is warm, collaborative, and evidence-based, and I draw from several approaches depending on what you need:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Gently noticing the thought patterns that shape how you feel and respond, and learning to work with them rather than be run by them.
Mindfulness-based practice
Building the capacity to stay present with what you're feeling without being overwhelmed by it, a cornerstone of calming the nervous system.
Solution-focused therapy
Keeping one eye on what's working and where you want to go, so therapy moves toward the life you actually want, not just away from pain.
Somatic, nervous-system-first work
Including the body in healing, because lasting change happens when your system feels safe, not only when your thoughts shift.
How This Differs From Traditional Therapy
If traditional talk therapy hasn't fully worked for you in the past, the difference is often less about effort and more about sequence and safety.
What can fall short
- Jumps to coping skills before you feel safe
- Treats symptoms as the whole problem
- Focuses on thoughts while overlooking the body
- Moves at the clinician's pace
A trauma-informed approach
- Builds safety and regulation first
- Treats patterns as adaptations, not defects
- Includes the nervous system and the body
- Moves at your pace, with your consent
You can read more about this in our guide to trauma-informed therapy and why traditional therapy often falls short.
Therapy That Fits Your Real Life
All of this happens through secure, HIPAA-compliant online sessions, available to women anywhere in Utah. You don't need to sit in traffic, find childcare for an in-office visit, or live near a clinic. You can do this work from a private, comfortable space of your own, which for a lot of women is exactly what makes it possible to stay consistent. Learn more about online therapy in Utah.
Take the First Gentle Step
If this way of working feels like a fit, I'd love to hear from you. Book a free consultation and we'll talk through what's going on and whether we're a good match, no pressure, no commitment. Available statewide across Utah.
Book a Free Consultation