Compassion focused Somatic Therapy

I offer a body-centered, trauma-informed approach to therapy that honors every part of who you are—your mind, your nervous system, your history, your intuition, and your identities. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck, disconnected from your body, or unsure what you need but know something has to change—this work meets you where you are and moves at a pace that honors your internal system. This isn’t traditional talk therapy. We’ll work with what your body already knows, and gently begin to untangle what’s been held for too long holding you back.

Come home to your body, your story, and your self.

What Makes My Approach Unique

  • Identity-affirming: LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, weight inclusive/HAES aligned, and BIPOC welcoming

  • Trauma-informed and rooted in nervous system awareness and skills for a deep, grounded sense of safety

  • Beyond just talk therapy, I interweave dynamic, experiential approaches to meet your unique needs

  • Collaborative healing, not hierarchical or pathologizing where it isn’t helpful, we work together toward your healing, drawing on your strengths and inherent worth

  • No forced catharsis, no fixing, no performing, just unfolding of who you truly are

Modalities I Work With

Somatic Therapy

Somatic Therapy is a body-centered approach to therapy that increases body awareness and helps people release held emotional and physical tension created by past trauma or life stressors. Techniques I lean towards combine polyvagal theory with embodiment practices, somatic awareness and processing.  This modality helps clients work into deeper change than cognitive therapies alone (although cognitive approaches will show up when needed). Working within your body’s wisdom & window of tolerance allows you to move at a pace that feels safe and manageable while pushing into available growth edges. 

Internal Family Systems
(IFS/Parts Work)

IFS sees the Self as made up of many “parts”—some protective, some wounded, each one with their own vital insight into your internal world. In this work, we gently connect with these parts, helping you understand their roles and bring them into balance with compassion. This work helps to understand the internal motivations for behaviors and can be helpful for shame, self-criticism, inner conflict, trauma, identity exploration, and building deeper self-trust.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR helps the brain and body reprocess stuck memories or experiences that feel “frozen” in time as well as anchoring in resources you find helpful. My approach integrates Somatic practices—like breath, movement, and body awareness into traditional EMDR for a more embodied and integrated experience.

This modality has been shown to be helpful for PTSD and complex trauma, medical trauma, painful past experiences, shifting long-held beliefs tied to early wounding and unsticking places where talk therapy hasn’t reached. It can be a intensive modality to deeply process stuck experiences and it can also be a gentle addition woven into other modalities of therapy to deepen the experience and assist in change and resourcing.

BODY TRUST® PROVIDER

Body Trust® is a healing framework that invites you to move away from shame, disconnection, and control and toward a more compassionate, respectful relationship with your body. Instead of treating your body as a problem to solve, Body Trust® helps you reconnect with its wisdom.

This work is especially supportive for people recovering from eating disorders, chronic dieting, or body shame but is really helpful for all of us reckoning with a world that does not support our birthright to reclaim our bodies as our own no matter their story. We may include elements of Intuitive Eating and are grounded in a Health at Every Size (HAES) approach. This work honors the impact of trauma, systemic harm, and lived experience. In our work together, you’ll have space to explore what it means to feel at home in your body, on your terms.

I’m going through the final stages of completing certification as a Body Trust® provider. Learn more at www.centerforbodytrust.com/

In-person sessions in SW Portland | Virtual telehealth sessions available throughout Oregon
RATE: $140 per session

Sliding scale available · HSA/FSA accepted
Superbills provided for out-of-network reimbursement

At this practice, I accept sliding scale payments for therapy as a way to honor community care and promote accessibility to mental health support in ways that feel sustainable and compassionate. If you're considering the sliding scale, I invite you to assess your needs from the heart, honestly reflecting on your financial situation while also holding space for the needs of others in our shared community. There is no shame in asking for your needs to be met. This approach allows us to maintain a balance between care, integrity, and sustainability for all.