Therapy in San Diego, CA + Online Statewide
How I Can Help
I help anxious, perfectionistic women who have experienced trauma enjoy the life they’ve worked so hard to create.
Therapy for Anxiety
Are you struggling with anxiety and want to finally gain some freedom from the constant worry? Anxiety makes it difficult to think clearly and function well enough to engage in your daily tasks and responsibilities.
I have firsthand experience of overwhelming anxiety standing between me and my goals. I have been able to create several coping mechanisms to help reduce my anxiety and have learned to structure my life in a way that supports relaxation and lowers stress. I am passionate about helping my clients find the same relief I have found in my own life. Anxiety can be debilitating when you are not sleeping well, feeling overwhelmed, and experiencing brain fog.
In therapy, I can help you uncover the underlying cause of your anxiety. Getting to the root of anxiety is important because otherwise, you will find yourself coping with anxiety symptoms instead of healing from the core issue. We will work towards creating solutions to overcome the barriers you’re experiencing. We’ll also develop ways to cope when anxiety arises, as well as learn to manage anxiety triggers without avoidance.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Overthinking
Constant worry
Feelings of impending doom
Racing thoughts
Panic attacks
Nervousness, restlessness, or being tense
Difficulty focusing and thinking clearly
Obsessive thoughts about certain ideas
Anxiety surrounding specific event
Trembling or shaking
Exhaustion
Rapid breathing or rapid heart rate
Avoidance of anxiety provoking triggers
Therapy for Perfectionism
Raise your hand if you’re a recovering perfectionist! I used to feel trapped by my own high standards and frustrated by others not meeting my standards. My perfectionism stopped me from trying new things due to fear of failure. It created tension in relationships due to my impossible expectations of others. I want to help women reduce their perfectionism so they don’t have to suffer like I used to.
Since you're here, I'll assume you want to finally break out of the cycle of perfectionism you've found yourself in. Life is so much more fun once you learn to let go and accept yourself, even though you’re not perfect. You’ll realize you can finally enjoy the present moment without constant lists running in your head and thinking about previous mistakes you’ve made.
Did you feel like you always had to be perfect in order to receive love as a child?
Did you feel whole when receiving praise?
Do you recognize that your standards are incredibly high?
If so, you’re in the right place. In therapy, we’ll work on understanding the underlying cause of your perfectionism. We’ll install new positive beliefs that allow you to feel good enough no matter how productive you are or how much you achieve.
Symptoms of Perfectionism
Fear of failure
Low self-esteem
Procrastination
Overly self-critical
Critical of others
Setting high standards
All-or-nothing thinking
Anxiety about performance
Difficulty being vulnerable
Fear of rejection
Therapy for Trauma
Are you ready to get to the root of childhood trauma and heal from traumatic incidents that make you feel stuck? I have worked with countless clients who come from chaotic households. Sometimes, they even struggle to acknowledge the trauma they’ve experienced. They learned they needed to play a role in the family to receive love, or were only taken care of emotionally when they were perfect. I am passionate about helping women to reduce the negative beliefs this kind of trauma causes.
In therapy, I’ll utilize EMDR to help you reduce the symptoms of trauma and heal negative beliefs formed from the chaos you’ve experienced. We’ll create specific coping skills so you feel safe addressing the trauma you’ve experienced. Then, we’ll use EMDR to reduce negative emotions attached to trauma and instill new positive beliefs. These beliefs can sound like “I’m not good enough,” “I’m unlovable,” “I have to be perfect,” or “I have to be responsible for everything.”
Carrying these beliefs and the memories of traumatic incidents around with you can make it so much more difficult to do what you need to do every day. Healing from trauma will help you to be more effective in taking care of your kids, working, cooking dinner, and completing household chores. Life doesn’t have to be as hard as it feels right now and I can help you heal and learn a new way of living your life.
Symptoms of Trauma
Guilt, shame, or sadness
Flashbacks to traumatic incidents
Negative beliefs about yourself
Dissociation
Avoiding trauma triggers
Startle Response
Nightmares or difficulty sleeping
Irritability or anger
Feeling socially isolated
Numbness
Difficulty concentrating
Life doesn’t have to feel as hard as it does
Trauma therapy & EMDR can help reduce negative beliefs, ease physical pain, and improve your quality of life.
Therapy Intensives for Trauma & New Baby Preparation
Does it feel like weekly 50-minute therapy sessions simply haven’t been enough to help you resolve the issues you’ve been experiencing? Have you been doing weekly trauma therapy and feeling frustrated that time runs out when you finally feel like you’re making progress?
Do you need a lot of help—right now—and you don’t want to spend months or years in therapy to work through the issues that you’re facing?
Perhaps you’ve been meaning to get into therapy for a long time but your busy schedule doesn’t allow you to take time off work or step away from your responsibilities on a weekly basis.
Do you have a big life transition coming up, like adding a new baby to the family, and you need some dedicated time to talk to your partner about how to survive the adjustment period?
Or perhaps you’re brand-new to therapy and want to work through an issue quickly so you can get back to living your life.
Intensive Therapy FAQs
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An EMDR intensive gives you access to select spots in order to skip the waitlist. You’ll meet your treatment goals faster in time frames that fit your schedule.
EMDR intensives are personalized treatment plans to help you heal from trauma that has been stopping you from living the kind of life you want. They are a way to heal succinctly and not be interrupted by the 50-minute time frame of traditional therapy. Sessions during the intensive typically last for 2-4 hours and can be scheduled for a few consecutive days.
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An intensive format reduces overall time spent in therapy by not having to spend time on:
Checking in at the beginning of each session
Addressing issues or current crises as they arise, so you can work through the deeper issues
Focusing on coping skills and stabilization skills that you won’t need after healing
Emotionally regulating at the end of each session because this is built into the work we’ll do in the intensive
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You want to experience deep therapeutic work that can change your life quickly.
You have time off work or school and you want to use some of that time to prioritize your own healing.
You’ve been in talk therapy for years and have not seen the kind of healing you want to see.
You’re struggling to emotionally regulate after repeated 50-minute therapy sessions working through your trauma and you’d rather spend larger chunks of time to speed up the healing process.
You have a hard time integrating trauma therapy into your busy schedule and want distinct chunks of time you know you’ll be working through the tough stuff so you can plan for it.
You don’t feel able to do a 50-minute trauma session and then go back to parenting or go back to work. You know you need more time to do a deep dive and it’s easier to plan for a chunk of time off work or a chunk of time with a sitter in order to prioritize your healing.
You’re already in weekly therapy and you either feel stuck or you feel on the verge of a breakthrough. You might want to use an intensive to supplement your weekly therapy to reach your goals faster.
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A pre-baby intensive is designed to help you and your partner intentionally spend time discussing the upcoming adjustment that you will navigate together when you add a new baby to your family.
You’ll be able to spend time discussing how household chores will be split up when there are suddenly more chores than ever.
You’ll talk through spending intentional time prioritizing your relationship to avoid feeling like roommates or feeling disconnected.
You’ll plan for how to work through issues as they arise rather than wasting time and energy bickering when things aren’t going as planned.
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You want to prioritize adjusting to having a new baby as a team and avoid unnecessary hurt and disconnection.
You want to feel confident about bringing home a new baby and feel confident that your relationship will withstand the additional stressors.
You’re feeling anxious about what adding a new baby to the family will look like. You want to spend intentional time talking through anxieties and concerns with your partner without the distractions of everyday life.
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Intensive application of trauma focused therapy seems to be well tolerated by clients. Intensive work enables faster symptom reduction while reducing the risk that clients drop out of therapy prematurely due to life getting in the way. You can learn more here and here.
Intensive therapy is a sound economical choice because it reduces the time and money spent in prolonged therapy. Learn more here.
Oftentimes, perfectionists and high-achieving women will attempt to do all the things to prove to themselves that they are good enough. The sad truth is that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one, including yourself.
How EMDR Can Help
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is a type of therapy that helps you get unstuck. It can help your brain heal from past trauma, desensitize painful memories, and install new positive beliefs. EMDR works by utilizing your brain’s ability to constantly learn and update itself.
Improve your quality of life
Trauma can make it hard to live the kind of life you want. It can make it hard to concentrate and hard to enjoy your current life. Studies show that EMDR can improve your quality of life by rewiring your brain and decreasing how you think about difficult memories.
Reduce your negative beliefs
Some people who have experienced traumatic events begin to think differently about themselves. Research suggests that EMDR therapy can enhance resiliency and help you develop new positive beliefs about yourself and your life.
Improve your self-worth
By reducing intense emotions about previous traumatic incidents, you’ll finally be able to feel like you’re worthy. You’ll stop feeling like you need to prove your worth through accomplishments and productivity.