my approach

Integrative Psychotherapy

From the beginning of my career I have specialized in working with complex and developmental trauma. Initially I focused on Art Therapy with children, forming an in-depth knowledge of child development which influences how I work with adults.
It’s easy to forget that our memories in childhood were experienced by a child, who understood their world differently.
Sometimes translating our emotional experience directly into words creates distance within us— we rush to make meaning of the experience rather than learning how to hold what we’re feeling. My approach values the realms of the non-verbal, unconscious, and creative process as important venues of communication.

My style is eclectic, blending elements of psychodynamic, narrative, gestalt, relational, developmental, and attachment theories. I also incorporate therapeutic trance and meditation techniques to cultivate robust skills for support outside of session.
As a Queer therapist, I strive to approach therapy from a gender expansive perspective and skillfully explore the impacts of LGBTQIA+ identity on our experiences.

Applying an energetic lens to therapy, allows us to explore what is beyond our conscious awareness, navigate complex emotions held in the body, and reimagine our understanding of trauma response as a creative adaptation. I developed Reiki-informed Psychotherapy as a technique to apply the principles of Reiki to trauma-focused practice to facilitate relationship between the mind, body, and spirit.

What is Reiki?

Reiki can be defined as universal or spiritual energy. It is lifeforce energy, that quality that makes something alive. A relatively modern technique developed by Mikao Usui in 1922, it is deliberate in its context as a spiritual but non-religious practice. One does not need to hold specific beliefs to benefit from Reiki, only a willingness to explore the role of energy in our lives.

Reiki differs from other somatic perspectives of emotional awareness because it is inclusive of our relationship to the energy around us. This lifeforce energy exists in all living beings (not only humans), in the physical elements of nature, and in our interactions with others.

Our energy body provides us access to all the different versions of ourselves that we have inhabited. At this level our relationship to the environment is easily felt. We remember that we are nature.
As we become more aware of our energetic experience, we can develop new insights into our emotional patterns. This gentle, yet powerful, practice helps to develop a more collaborative relationship with our nervous systems.

Reiki can be a primary modality using targeted energy-focused techniques, or can be used in a parallel process to verbal and expressive therapy. Reiki is also a spiritual, yet secular, practice which offers an alternative to other approaches I offer that draw upon Yogic Principles.

The most fundamental techniques for Reiki-informed Psychotherapy are:

• Somatic Energy Awareness and Release

• Inner Child Work (reclamation and healing)

• Dreamwork, Trance, and the Unconscious

• Connecting to future selves as a pathway to change

Other applications include Ancestral Healing and somatic genogram, trauma processing, developing intuition, and creative process.

I maintain a small, virtual practice for Integrative psychotherapy for residents of New York State. Those interested can email me to inquire about availability.

A note on virtual Reiki-informed Psychotherapy:
Reiki is commonly offered as an in-person, hands on modality. In the psychotherapy context there is no physical touch, and because Reiki can also be offered over distance it is well suited to virtual sessions. This also means that I can offer a sliding scale range to all clients, allowing a maximum of accessibility.

But perhaps most salient, I believe that distance Reiki allows for the deepest understanding of how Reiki works and how it can work for you. There is a temptation during in-person work to overly attribute the experience to the practitioner and minimize the collaborative process. Over distance it is easier to feel the presence of the energy itself, without confusing this sensation with the presence or proximity of the therapist. Additionally, in the virtual setting it is possible for you to continue working with the energy in your body, in the comfort of your home, rather than immediately shifting into a public space.

Training for Therapists

Are you a therapist interested in learning more about this approach?‍ ‍

I offer Reiki Certification for Psychotherapists, an experiential training called Integrating Reiki & Psychotherapy, and individual consultation.