My Approach to Therapy

Therapy focus

People come to therapy for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes the problem is clear. Other times, you simply know that something in your life, your relationships, or the way you feel isn’t working the way you want it to anymore. You don’t have to know exactly what needs to change before you begin. That’s part of the work and thankfully, there’s no quiz at the end.

I work with individuals and couples to get curious about what’s happening underneath the patterns that keep them feeling stuck, disconnected, overwhelmed, or pulled back into old ways of responding. My work is attachment-oriented and experiential, which means we’re interested in more than understanding why something happens. Insight matters, but therapy also gives us an opportunity to create a different experience; one that can actually change what happens next.

My primary approaches include Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and EMDR Therapy, including Relational EMDR Therapy® (R-EMDR). You can explore the areas below to get a better sense of how I work. And no, you don’t need to know which acronym you need before you reach out. We can figure that part out together.

All sessions are offered online throughout California, with morning, afternoon, and evening appointments available.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) & EMDR Therapy

Two evidence-based, experiential approaches for understanding patterns, healing what still carries weight, and creating meaningful change.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) are at the heart of how I work. While they are different approaches, both allow us to move beyond simply talking about what is happening and create opportunities for something new to happen in therapy.

EFT is grounded in attachment and helps us understand what happens when our need for connection, safety, and responsiveness feels threatened. With couples, we work with the patterns that take over between partners and the emotions, needs, and longings underneath them. With individuals, EFT can help us understand how earlier relational experiences continue to shape the ways we connect, protect ourselves, and respond today.

EMDR therapy helps us work with experiences from the past that continue to carry emotional weight in the present. Using an eight-phase approach that includes careful assessment and preparation, EMDR supports the processing and integration of experiences that may still feel unresolved. Bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements) is one component of this process.

Although EMDR is widely known for treating PTSD and trauma, its use extends beyond a single diagnosis or type of experience. I use EMDR with concerns including developmental and attachment trauma, anxiety, painful relationship experiences, negative beliefs about the self, and patterns rooted in earlier experiences.

My approach to EMDR is also deeply relational. Through Relational EMDR Therapy® (R-EMDR), we pay particular attention to attachment, attunement, and what happens within the therapeutic relationship. The work isn't simply about making a difficult memory less distressing; it's about helping experiences become more fully processed and integrated so they have less power over how you experience yourself, your relationships, and your life today.

EFT and EMDR approach change differently, but they share something important: both recognize that insight alone isn't always enough. Therapy can give us an opportunity not only to understand old patterns, but to experience something different in the present.

Emotionally Focused Therapy for Stronger, More Secure Relationships

We all have needs for connection, safety, and comfort in our primary relationship. We want to believe and feel, to our core, that our other half will “show-up” for us and have our back during our time of need. When we feel supported, loved, and secure with our partner, our relationship resembles a secure attachment- a healthy bond.

When we don’t feel connected or supported by our loved one, conflict can increase, communication can diminish, and both physical and emotional intimacy can be hard to maintain. As a result, the couples bond will weaken.

Why Connection Matters

When we feel secure and connected in our most important relationship, we have a stronger place from which to navigate stress, uncertainty, and the inevitable challenges of life. A secure bond doesn’t mean a relationship is free from conflict, it means there is greater confidence that we can reach for one another, respond, repair, and find our way back.

When that sense of connection becomes uncertain, even small moments can carry more weight. Partners may feel more alone, anxious, guarded, or reactive, and the relationship can become another source of stress rather than a place to turn for support.

EFT helps couples strengthen the emotional bond between them so that the relationship can become a more reliable source of safety, connection, and resilience.

How Can Couples Therapy Help?

Couples therapy can help you understand and change the patterns that keep you and your partner feeling stuck, disconnected, or unable to reach one another. Using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), we slow those patterns down and get curious about what is happening underneath the reactions you each have when connection feels threatened.

This work can help couples repair attachment injuries, work through betrayal, navigate difficult transitions, and create new ways of reaching for and responding to one another. Rather than simply learning better communication skills, we work toward changing the emotional experience between you.

The goal is greater emotional safety, responsiveness, and connection; so that when difficult moments happen, you’re better able to turn toward one another rather than getting pulled back into the same cycle.

Individual Therapy for Women in San Diego

Therapy for anxiety, trauma, attachment wounds, self-worth, and relationship patterns.

You don’t have to come to therapy with the right words, a perfectly defined goal, or even a clear understanding of why you feel the way you do. Sometimes you know exactly what hurts. Other times, you simply notice that the same patterns keep showing up; in your relationships, in how you see yourself, or in the ways you’ve learned to protect yourself.

I don’t see those patterns as evidence that something is wrong with you. I get curious about what they’re doing for you, what they may have protected you from, and what they’re trying to communicate. Often, the ways we learned to cope made a great deal of sense at the time, even when they’re no longer serving us in the same way today.

Our work is about making space for what’s underneath, understanding what still carries weight, and creating experiences that allow something different to become possible. You don’t need me to speak for you or give you a voice. My job is to help create the conditions where it becomes easier to hear and trust your own.

Individual Therapy in San Diego | Trauma, Attachment & Anxiety

Individual therapy is a place where the focus gets to be on you. Not who you need to be for your partner, family, work, or anyone else, but what you’re experiencing and what you need.

You may be here because anxiety has become exhausting, something painful has happened, your confidence has taken a hit, or you’re tired of feeling the same way despite everything you’ve already tried. You may also be doing relatively well and simply want something in your life to feel different.

You don’t need a crisis to come to therapy, and you don’t need a perfectly articulated reason for being here. We can start with what you know and go from there.

Premarital Therapy in San Diego | Couples Therapy for Engaged Couples

Getting married is a big deal. Premarital therapy gives you and your partner dedicated space to talk about your relationship; not because something has to be wrong, but because there is value in being intentional about the life you’re building together.

We can explore the places where you already feel strong as a couple, as well as the areas that may deserve a little more attention. That might include how you navigate conflict, emotional connection, family dynamics, intimacy, finances, expectations, or the transitions that come with building a life together.

Using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), our work goes beyond learning communication skills. We’ll pay attention to how you reach for one another, what happens when you miss each other, and how you repair and reconnect when things get hard.

And yes, premarital therapy can actually be fun. You get to be curious about your relationship, have conversations you may not have thought to have, and learn a little more about the person you’ve chosen to do life with.