Clinical work

I’m especially drawn to exposure-based work. There’s something rewarding about helping a person approach what they’ve spent months, sometimes years, organizing their life around avoiding. Fear has a way of making our worlds smaller, often so gradually that we hardly notice how much ground we’ve given up.

How I approach therapy

I want therapy to feel like a real conversation. One where you can speak openly, feel understood, laugh occasionally, and not have to worry about saying the wrong thing. I also want our time together to be useful.

Earlier in my clinical training, I sometimes found myself eager to jump in with a solution. I was learning all these different techniques and naturally wanted to put them to work. With experience, I’ve come to appreciate that people don’t always need someone to fix something. Sometimes they need room to sort through what they’re experiencing, without being rushed toward an answer.

Of course, there are times when listening alone isn’t enough.

If someone keeps finding themselves in the same painful situation, I think part of my responsibility is to help them recognize what’s happening. I tend to approach those moments with curiosity and questions rather than telling someone what they ought to do. I don’t presume to know another person’s life better than they do, but I can offer a different perspective, reflect something I’ve noticed, or gently challenge an assumption that might be worth reconsidering.

Much of my current work involves anxiety and the ways we learn to respond to it. Avoidance, reassurance seeking, checking, and other habits can provide tremendous relief in the moment. The trouble is that the relief often comes at a cost. Over time, the things we do to protect ourselves from fear can become part of what keeps it going.

This is where I find exposure-based treatments particularly valuable. The aim isn’t necessarily to get rid of uncomfortable thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations. It’s to develop a different relationship with them, so they no longer have quite so much say in how we live.

I draw primarily from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). My training also includes trauma-focused approaches such as Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), along with Motivational Interviewing, person-centered, and existential approaches.

I appreciate the structure and research behind these treatments, but I don’t believe therapy needs to feel rigid or overly clinical. Some sessions call for reflection, others for direct feedback, practicing something new, or doing something difficult. I try to be thoughtful about the difference.

Clinical background & assessment

I deliberately pursued a broad range of clinical experiences throughout my training, including community mental health, K–12 schools, university counseling, first responder services, inpatient psychiatry, outpatient psychotherapy, and Veterans Affairs.

My background also includes psychological assessment, with experience administering cognitive, personality, and diagnostic measures such as the WAIS, WISC, MMPI, PAI, and Rorschach. This describes my assessment training and experience, rather than a separate assessment service currently offered through this website.

I earned my Psy.D. from Adler University and completed my doctoral internship at the VA North Texas Health Care System.

Current practice

I currently provide psychotherapy through the Anxiety Treatment Center of Austin. Information about clinical services, availability, and referrals can be found on the practice’s website.

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