I am fairly casual and engaging. My office is cozy with a comfortable couch, lamplight, and sound machines for privacy. There is a high window where you can see the trees and sky during the day. I bring a great deal of personal and professional experience and understanding to my work with clients. I use a lot of humor (as appropriate) for levity and grace. I am client centered which means you are always in charge of your session, your work, identifying your needs/pace. I believe that most trauma is rooted in too much too fast, coercion, and disregard. For this reason, therapy must be a partnership in pace, personalized exploration and engagement.

Yes! Both in person and virtual therapy are effective for EMDR. I believe it is a personal preference related to convenience, proximity to my office, privacy, and comfortability with being online.

During covid we found out that lots of therapist had been doing EMDR via teletherapy for years with combat vets and active-duty military overseas and throughout the US as well as other populations.

Ensuring your privacy and ability to speak freely from your access point is most important. We can talk about what the best option is for you.

Also, for Teletherapy you would need to be physically in the state of NC for my license to allow me to see you online. Additionally, you would need to come to Wake Forest, NC for me to see you in person.

Yes, I typically work Monday through Thursday from 10a to 6:30p. My last client is usually scheduled no later than 5:30pm. I do not typically work Fridays nor weekends. I will be offering Intensive Programs that will have the option for Weekend scheduling at a slightly higher private pay rate than weekday rates.

Trauma is a response to anything that was too much too fast for your nervous system to manage, integrate or make sense of as it was happening. It is often an adaptive and instinctual response that served us at the time but gets in the way now that we are safe enough. Certainly, the younger, more vulnerable, and less resourced a person, affects how experiences are held in the brain and body. A healthy nervous system with good resource and support can be overwhelmed as well by chronic, consistent, intense enough experiences. What is considered traumatic to one person may not be traumatically held in the same way for another person.

CPTSD stands for Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This is usually from ongoing childhood abuse and neglect. This can range from physical, emotional, and verbal abuse to being uncertain about how to get your basic needs for food, supervision, care, housing, safety met. It can also include chronic bullying, shaming in school, by peers or siblings among other things.

PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which at this point also includes CPTSD among other acute or chronic symptoms related to a traumatic event such as a car accident, witnessing harm to others, combat, assault, of any kind, among many other things.

We can explore together what best describes your experiences and current symptoms.

EMDR is a bottom-up approach to decreasing physical and emotional reactivity connected to trauma held lower in the brain and body. It works beneath the thinking part of the brain (subcortical). CBT is a top-down approach, meaning: Change how you think (Cognitive) to change how you feel/act (Behavioral). Both have their time and place in trauma treatment. Reactivity will override thinking if it is too strong. For trauma, clearing reactivity first allows you to use CBT more effectively.

Most everyone can do EMDR with a seasoned, trained, and responsive therapist. Pacing and intensity must be considered and adjusted for especially for highly reactive or dissociative clients. Adjusting EMDR to the client presentation makes it accessible to most. There are 8 phases in EMDR. Some clients need more time in phase 2 Resourcing before moving into Phase 3 Assessment and ultimately into Phase 4 where Desensitization and Reprocessing occur.

YES! These therapies are naturally complimentary and allow for the reprocessing and desensitization of physical and emotional pain, tension, and overwhelm (sometimes called thwarted sympathetic response) held in the body.

Private Pay Psychotherapy Service and Program Rates

I am currently paneled with the following insurance companies:

• Medicare (except UHC Advantage Plans)

• Humana

• Blue Cross Blue Shield

• Aetna

It is important to know that you are responsible for payment of your copay at time of service. It is your responsibility to understand your specific insurance plan and what it covers.

In order to use your health insurance through the marketplace, Medicare, or job offered commercial insurance you are required to and are agreeing to the following per the insurance companies:

• Have and meet criteria for a DSM-V mental health diagnosis

• Maintain DSM-V diagnosis medical necessity for therapy

• Allow access to your medical records/rating scales/notes as they request them.

• Pay your copay, deductible or coinsurance for your in or out of network benefits.

You can reach me anytime via the Consultation Request Button above. Please do not use email for any private health information. For emergencies or immediate help please call 911, 488, or go to your nearest emergency room. This page is not meant to serve for crisis care in any way. I do get a notice of your consultation request and will contact you within 1-2 business days.