In-person therapy in Bellevue, WA and telehealth throughout Washington
When your life doesn’t quite feel like your own
Feel overwhelmed, anxious, disconnected? Tired of pretending to be happier in life, work, and love than you really feel?
It’s hard to look fine for everyone else when on the inside, something just doesn’t feel right.
What if your life felt more inspired, more like you — and less like the one you feel stuck in?
I have over 25 years of experience helping individuals and couples get to know themselves better so they can bring a better self to what they love.
I’m trained in:
The Gottman Method for Couples
Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Psychodynamic psychotherapy, Existential psychotherapy
Guest lectures at the University of Washington School of Social Work, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University. Presentations for Seattle University’s Psychology of the Other Conference and the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study Forum.
Reaching out for help isn't easy. We're afraid people will judge us if they find out how messed up we really are. We judge ourselves for not being strong enough to fix our own problems in the first place.
So we start pretending.
We pretend to be happier, more successful, and stronger than we really feel — and we get pretty good at it, too. So good, in fact, that the pretending parts begin to take over and the real parts start to fade away. That's where the trouble begins and where I can help.
You don't have to become someone you're not in order to feel better. In fact, it works the other way around.
Living fully only comes from bringing all of who you are to the life you currently have.
How I Can Help
Anxiety Therapy
Anxiety tells you that if you worry, think, prepare enough you’ll be safe and feel in control. You already know that’s not working.
Learn to relate differently to worry, stress, panic attacks, and overthinking so anxiety loosens its hold on you. Choose a life that’s aligned with what you really want — not what anxiety tells you.
Couples Therapy
All couples can get stuck in unhelpful patterns — with the same arguments, hurt, defensiveness, distancing over and over again.
Together we’ll understand these negative cycles. Then we’ll re-shape them, learning how to use emotion as an ally in your relationship instead of an enemy.
ACT Therapy
The power of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is right in the name. By accepting difficult thoughts and emotions — instead of avoiding them — they stop getting in our way.
This helps our values come to the surface. We’re able to clarify what’s most important to us and then commit to moving in that direction.
Who I Work With
I work with adults and couples who feel increasingly disenchanted with their own lives.
Many are thoughtful, high-functioning professionals — often in demanding fields like technology — who feel exhausted, stretched too thin, and quietly uncertain about their future.
I work with those used to pushing themselves hard to solve life’s complex problems, living a lot in their heads, while feeling confused or empty in their hearts.
At some point it hits them: what they’re doing isn’t working. They can’t out-think, out-run, or out-work the feeling that something’s off.
Therapy offers a different way forward— not by working harder but by understanding better.
I can help you begin building a life that feels more like your own — a life you love, not one you have to endure.
Feeling stuck, disconnected, or uninspired?
For Individuals — Is this you?
Constantly overthinking — unable to turn your mind off
Seem fine to others, but don’t feel that way on the inside
Comparing yourself to others and feeling like you don’t measure up
Stuck in patterns you see but can’t seem to change
Tired of having to hold it all together
For Couples — Is this you?
Having the same fights and arguments over and over
Feeling distant — more like roommates than partners
Struggling to communicate without it turning into conflict or shutdown
Walking on eggshells, avoiding important conversations
Want to feel close again, emotionally and physically, but don’t know how to get there
How I Work
Therapy starts with building relationship — a supportive and collaborative relationship. That’s where change begins.
Next, I’ll remind you of the powerful resources you’ve always had inside but have forgotten or let fade away somehow.
I’ll teach a few things too.
Sometimes we’ll focus on practical tools you can use right away.
Other times, I’ll guide — helping you slow things down so we can look more deeply at what’s happening with your thoughts, feelings, relational world, and even the therapy relationship itself.
I draw from approaches like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), psychodynamic psychotherapy and existential psychology — not just as techniques but as ways to bring you back to yourself, clarifying what’s important, so you can respond to life’s hopes, dreams, and challenges.
With couples, I lean on insights from the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). We’ll work to understand the patterns between you and your partner keeping you stuck. We’ll explore them as they unfold in real time — and then shift these patterns in ways that support connection and repair.
Whether individual or couples therapy, the goal is the same — a clearer understanding of who and how you are so you can shape the direction of your life and start to live with more purpose and vitality.
What Therapy is Like
If I'm being honest, therapy’s a pretty uncommon arrangement. Why would anyone sit down with a complete stranger and tell them their life story?
Still, people do it. I’ve done it — and believe it or not, it works.
Starting therapy can feel uncomfortable — even a little scary at first. That’s natural.
But you’ll bring something important with you: the instinct to grow. My job is to create a space where you feel safe enough to follow that instinct — alongside the fear and uncertainty that come with it.
I’ll help you learn to replace self-criticism and judgement with something more useful: compassionate curiosity. As that grows, fear starts to loosen its grip and you begin to feel more at home with yourself.
From there, confidence grows — allowing you to explore what matters most in your life, who you want to be, and how you can move in that direction with courage.
In the end, therapy is about becoming more of yourself, not less.
Is This Right for Me?
Therapy works best when you feel comfortable, understood, and clear about the direction you’re heading in.
A free 15-minute consultation gives us a chance to talk briefly about what you’re looking for and how I might help.
You can ask questions about me, my practice, or the process of getting started. This helps us see if working together feels like the right next step.
There’s no pressure — just a conversation.
Ready to take the next step?
Life today can feel demanding and overwhelming — therapy can help you slow down, be inspired, and make meaningful change.
Ease anxiety so you can risk living a brighter life
Understand what’s holding you back from taking action to live more fully
Strengthen your relationship by improving communication, deepening connection, and transforming conflict
Serving Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Issaquah, and Seattle’s Eastside with in-person therapy in Bellevue and tele-health throughout Washington.
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