Frequently Asked Questions

A complimentary 20-minute phone consultation allows me to hear what is bringing you into therapy and what it is that you hope to work on. You’ll have time to ask me questions about my practice and how I work as well.

By the end of our call, you’ll be able to decide if it seems like therapy is right for you and if we are a good fit for working together. From there, we can discuss scheduling and help you figure out the “next steps.”

My clients range in age from 18 to 65 and older.

Yes! In addition to helping women, I help men struggling with depression, anxiety, feelings of overwhelm, and life stressors.

Individual therapy sessions are generally 50 minutes in length. Depending on your needs and treatment goals, longer sessions may be available. Some clients choose to schedule 90-minute sessions, particularly when engaging in EMDR therapy, as the additional time can allow for deeper processing and integration.

I also offer EMDR Intensives, which are extended sessions lasting up to 3 hours. Intensive sessions can provide an opportunity to focus more deeply on specific treatment goals without the interruptions of a traditional weekly schedule. For more information about EMDR Intensives, please visit my EMDR Intensives page. <<Insert link to EMDR Intensives page>>

In a typical EMDR therapy session, we begin with a brief check-in about how you’ve been since our last session. I ask a few questions to understand any shifts you may have noticed related to the theme we have been working on in therapy (such as the theme of self-worth, safety, control, or connection and belonging).

We then move into reprocessing, either continuing with a past memory or identifying a new memory when appropriate.

Throughout reprocessing, I will regularly check in with you, both that the work we are doing feels tolerable and to ensure you feel grounded in your adult self. This is important for healing.

We will wind down all sessions by leading you in a calming exercise from EMDR therapy, allowing you to leave feeling steady and grounded. While the work can bring up emotion in the moment, many people notice that over time they feel a sense of relief, increased clarity, and reduced intensity about things that previously felt overwhelming.

The therapeutic modality I use most often in my practice is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, an empirically supported, eight-phase therapy that helps the brain process and heal from past experiences that are often the driving force behind current symptoms.

Periodically, I integrate techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). These approaches teach practical skills to gain fast relief from symptoms.

While effective in the short-term, they don’t get to the root cause of the problem as EMDR does. Hence, the foundation of our work together will be using EMDR therapy.

EMDR is sometimes described as a “bottom-up” approach, meaning it works directly with the nervous system and the underlying emotional and memory networks that contribute to symptoms. CBT and DBT are often considered “top-down” approaches, focusing more on thoughts, behaviors, and practical skills in the present day. Together, they can complement each other well, supporting both immediate coping and longer-term healing.

For people who have experienced a single traumatic event within the past 12 months, it’s common to notice significant improvement within the first 1 to 3 EMDR sessions. (Yes, it really can happen that quickly.)

For others, the length of therapy depends on your personal history and goals. Many clients are in therapy for about 6 to 12 months. If you’ve experienced complex or longstanding trauma, therapy may last 1 to 2 years or longer.

Healing during EMDR therapy is often compared to an airplane taking off. Once the plane is in the air, it moves steadily toward its destination.

Healing often works the same way. As your brain processes and integrates experiences, changes tend to build gradually and consistently over time.

That doesn’t mean you have to wait until the end of therapy to feel better. Most people begin noticing meaningful shifts along the way, sometimes within the first few months of working together. You may find that memories feel less overwhelming, emotional reactions become less intense, or you respond to situations with greater ease and confidence.

Every person’s journey is different, so there’s no exact timeline. What I do consistently see as an EMDR therapist is that people begin experiencing relief well before therapy is complete.

I accept cash, checks, and most major credit cards, including Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) cards.

I’m an in-network provider with PacificSource Insurance and can bill them directly for services. I’m happy to contact them before our first full session to clarify your benefits. Though I will make every effort to ensure you receive your benefits, you are ultimately responsible for all charges.

If you are not insured with PacificSource, I can provide you with what is called a superbill, a receipt for services that you can submit to your insurance for reimbursement. However, please note that as an out-of-network provider, there is no guarantee if or how much your insurance will reimburse.

There are many disadvantages to working directly with insurance, including a lack of privacy and confidentiality, dictation of the duration, frequency, and type of services provided, denial of reimbursement for sessions mid-treatment, and more.

Moving away from working with insurance companies allows me to give you more time and attention, working with you in a way that is going to serve your needs best, not those of an insurance company.

Because your appointment time is reserved just for you, I ask for a minimum of 48 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule a session. This allows me to offer the time to someone else who may be waiting for care. Cancellations made with less than 48 hours’ notice will be charged the full session fee.

My office is located at the corner of NW 23rd Avenue and NW Thurman Street, in the Baxter Building.

2301 NW Thurman Street, Suite F

Portland, OR 97210

My office is next door to St. Honoré, a French bakery. I see clients both in person and online.

Complimentary parking is available in the lot just to the left of my building. Before your in-person session, you’ll receive a parking validation code from me.

When you arrive, park in any of the first 7 spots labeled “Pay to Park All Hours.” Use the parking kiosk to enter the code, which will validate your parking at no cost.

The kiosk will print a ticket. Place the ticket on your dashboard during your session.

My office hours are Monday through Thursday, from 9 AM to 4 PM.

I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 2011 and my Master’s in Social Work in 2013, both from the University of Nevada, Reno. I became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in Oregon in 2019 (License #8259).

Over the last sixteen years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with children, adolescents, and adults in many different settings, including working with families and children involved in the child welfare system and individuals who were incarcerated and struggling with substance use.

I have worked most often in the field of mental health: inpatient, residential, and outpatient mental health programs. This is the area of social work about which I am most passionate.

Today, my practice is focused on helping adults heal from anxiety, depression, shame, low self-worth, trauma, and insomnia.

Knowing that I wanted to specialize in helping individuals heal from trauma, I completed training to become an EMDR therapist in 2021 through The EMDR Institute. Since then, I’ve continued to pursue advanced training in using EMDR with individuals with complex trauma, dissociation, and early attachment injuries.

In 2022, I became an EMDRIA Certified Therapist™. In 2025, I became both a Facilitator with Trauma Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP), helping train clinicians learning EMDR therapy, and an EMDRIA Approved Consultant™, allowing me to provide consultation to fellow EMDR therapists as they deepen their skills working with clients with more complex histories.

Believing a therapist’s education is never complete, I continue to attend professional seminars and advanced EMDR trainings regularly to increase my skills as an EMDR clinician and consultant, to better serve both my clients and fellow clinicians.

Ultimately, my goal isn’t simply to help reduce your symptoms. It’s to help you heal in a genuine, lasting way, so that therapy becomes something you no longer need.

I thought you’d never ask! Yes!

Q: Why did the memory go to EMDR therapy?

A: It was tired of being stuck in the past.

Q: Why did the pillow go to therapy?

A: It was carrying too much emotional support.

Q: Why did the cognitive distortion get kicked out of therapy?

A: It kept jumping to conclusions.

Q: How many people with insomnia does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: Only one, because they’ve been awake so long they noticed it burned out. Oye!

Well, I’m a millennial, so not surprisingly I am currently in my “matcha era.” My go-to order is a matcha lavender latte from Good Coffee. I’m such a fan that I have nearly every stamp on their Seasonal Coffee Passport.