Who I Work With

I work with people who are ready to engage deeply—those who sense that something fundamental needs to shift, not just be managed.

My practice serves two primary, often — but not necessarily — overlapping populations: individuals navigating complex trauma and its aftermath, and high-performers seeking to move beyond competence into genuine excellence.

Complex Trauma & Traumatic Experiences

Trauma lives in the body and the belief system long after the originating events have passed. It shapes how you interpret threat, how you regulate emotion, how you experience intimacy and trust, and what you believe is possible for you.

I work with individuals whose early experiences—relational ruptures, attachment wounds, chronic instability, or overt abuse—created survival patterns that once protected them but now constrain their lives. I also work with those who have experienced acute traumatic events that have fragmented their sense of safety and self, though often we find, through our work together, a history of complex trauma.

You may or may not come to this work with a conscious understanding of your past experiences and how they have imprinted upon your mind and body. In truth, largely due to the efficacy of our well-constructed defense mechanisms, most of us do not possess such a clear understanding of our past or the ability to label it as complex trauma. Nevertheless, we might be experiencing the following issues, but simply calling them by name as “depression,” “ anxiety,” or “anger issues” without a clear picture of how those issues fit within the larger framework of complex trauma. Issues which may include:

  • Persistent nervous system dysregulation (anxiety, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, or dissociation)

  • Difficulty trusting yourself or others

  • A sense of being fundamentally different or damaged

  • Patterns of self-sabotage or relational breakdown that feel outside your control

  • The exhaustion of managing symptoms without addressing their source

The work here is about more than symptom reduction. It's about identifying the underlying architecture—the beliefs, the protective mechanisms, the stored somatic responses—and methodically restructuring them so you can inhabit your life fully, not just survive it.

For a deeper exploration of what complex trauma is and how it differs from single-incident trauma, see my detailed overview here.

“Trauma is not a story about the past. It is a fragmenting of the self that continues in the present.”
— Janina Fisher

High-Performers & Leaders

Excellence requires more than skill. It requires psychological flexibility, nervous system regulation under pressure, and the capacity to access your full range of resources when it matters most.

I work extensively with professionals in demanding fields—executive leadership, medicine, law, athletics, and other high-stakes domains—where unresolved psychological patterns often masquerade as performance ceilings.

You might seek this work if you are:

  • Performing well externally but sensing internal fragmentation or disconnection

  • Hitting repeated patterns around authority, delegation, or conflict that limit your effectiveness

  • Struggling with decision-making under uncertainty or the weight of responsibility

  • Experiencing burnout, imposter phenomenon, or a nagging sense that success hasn't translated into fulfillment

  • Feeling that your work or career does not reflect who you are or what you value

  • Aware that old adaptive strategies (perfectionism, over-control, emotional suppression) are becoming liabilities

For many high-performers, early survival programs—be perfect, don't need anything, stay in control—fueled initial success, but now create rigidity, relational strain, or internal depletion. The work involves identifying these programs, understanding their origins, and deliberately replacing them with more sustainable frameworks that support both performance and well-being.

But this work is not solely corrective. Many who come here are already functioning well—they seek this work not because something is broken, but because they recognize untapped potential. They want to access deeper reserves of creativity, presence, and strategic thinking. They want to lead with greater range and flexibility. They want to perform at their best consistently, not just when circumstances align. This is about building psychological architecture that supports sustained excellence, not just repairing what's damaged.

This work incorporates organizational and leadership psychology: examining how unconscious patterns influence your decision-making, presence under pressure, capacity to delegate, and ability to lead from a grounded, integrated place. We translate internal shifts into measurable external impact.

For a deeper look at what excellence-focused work entails—the methods, the process, and what it actually looks like in practice—see the detailed overview here.

The Intersection

Many of the people I work with occupy both categories. Trauma and high achievement are not mutually exclusive—in fact, they often coexist. Early adversity can drive exceptional performance while simultaneously creating internal fault lines that remain hidden until the system is stressed.

If you have built a life of external competence while managing unresolved trauma, you may find that the same intensity that fueled your success also keeps you trapped in patterns of hypervigilance, emotional override, or relational difficulty. This work addresses both: resolving the trauma at its root while cultivating the psychological architecture that allows you to perform at your best without burning out.

What This Work Requires

This is not passive therapy. It requires:

  • A willingness to examine uncomfortable truths about yourself and your patterns

  • The capacity to tolerate discomfort in service of growth

  • Active engagement between sessions—reflection, practice, integration

  • Patience with a structured, phase-based process that prioritizes depth over speed

  • If you're looking for quick fixes, symptom management alone, or validation without challenge, this may not be the right fit. But if you're ready to do the foundational work of restructuring how you experience yourself and the world, this process can create enduring change

Is This a Fit?

You might be well-suited for this work if:

  • You've done therapy before, but sense something essential was left unaddressed

  • You're psychologically curious and want to understand the mechanisms beneath your patterns

  • You value precision, structure, and a collaborative approach

  • You're ready to move from insight to action—from understanding yourself to changing how you live

If you're uncertain whether this approach aligns with what you're seeking, let’s chat to explore fit. Reach out via the contact page to begin that conversation.

If you're ready to begin, see How to Prepare for the Work for guidance on what to expect and how to make the most of this process from the first session.