Therapy, Transformation, and Becoming

I am drawn to therapeutic work that attends to lived experience as it unfolds in relationship—where perspective shifts through curious dialogue rather than the client being led by a bias in the therapist. Therapy often requires developed trust and asks for openness, a willingness to feel unsettled and learning to increase distress tolerance, and the courage to look through a different lens. From this process, new understanding and integration for change can emerge.

I often think about change through the metaphor of metamorphosis. Like the caterpillar becoming a butterfly, transformation is rarely smooth or linear. Resistance is not a failure—it is part of the process. New ways of being often exist in latency long before they are visible or even imaginable. But change is possible in wonderfully surprising ways. Even when change is unwanted or arrives without our consent, there can be empowerment in discovering an inner locus of control—the ability to shape how we meet what is unfolding.

Longing for change, unmet needs, or the feeling that something is missing is a fundamental part of the existential experience of being human. It shapes how we see ourselves, relationships, and meaning, and effects of how we meet others and how we are met in return. I am drawn to work that takes openness, witnessing, and relational awareness, and responsibility earnestly, and that understands transformation as something that unfolds through corrective relational experiences.

Uncertainty, Suffering, and Care

My experience has taught me the importance of staying with—and remaining curious about—emotional experience, rather than rushing toward aggressive certainty or premature solutions. It takes time to truly learn about someone, especially oneself. I value a pace that allows complexity and nuance to emerge, and a stance that treats uncertainty not as something to eliminate, but as something to work within, with patience and care.

Much of life includes unavoidable pain, confusion, and unsatisfactoriness. Rather than trying to erase these realities, therapy can help ease them through compassion, attunement, and presence. Often what helps most is not solving a problem or pushing away unwanted feelings, but creating enough relational safety to welcome the fullness of one’s humanity and reality—while tending to hurting parts as well as joyful parts. From this kind of care, clarity, self-understanding, and a sense of peace can begin to arise.

I also draw upon secular Buddhist ideas such as the not-knowing mind, acceptance of suffering, and compassion—approaches that support staying present with experience rather than forcing resolution before understanding has fully emerged.

Depth, Imagination, and Meaning

My work is informed by depth-oriented and existential traditions that understand human beings as shaped by both personal and collective stories. I draw from Jungian-oriented therapy and depth psychology, including attention to individuation; shadow work—approaching hidden or repressed aspects of the personality with curiosity; archetypes; dream interpretation; and imagination. These frameworks offer symbolic and relational ways of understanding patterns that often feel deeply personal, yet are shared across humanity.

I also value creative pathways to healing. Poetry, music, stories, movement, fairy tales, and art can offer sacred roads to the heart and mind. For many people, reflecting on meaningful lyrics, narratives, or images opens powerful avenues for self-understanding and relational insight.

I also specialize in working with people who feel deeply moved by all kinds of music and lyrics—particularly the many who connect strongly with Taylor Swift’s lyrics. Her songwriting often provides a fertile ground for exploring identity, emotion, and important relationships, and can become a meaningful entry point for therapeutic reflection and healing for her fans, especially in this moment where her impact is undeniable.