Living Fully: Moving from Anxiety to Attention and Wonder
As a therapist, when I sit with young adults navigating massive life transitions or women in mid-life wrestling with deep burnout, anxiety often shows up as a spinning, overactive mind, and a tension-filled body. It’s easy to get trapped trying to "think" our way out of overwhelm, but my aim in counseling is to help folks look closer. When we do this, we often begin to see that anxiety and depression aren’t simply individual problems but one co-created by living in a world that actively disconnects us from our bodies, our imaginations, and each other.
In my counseling practice, I draw from many fields including human development, Gestalt, feminist, contemplative, and somatic frameworks to help clients pay attention to all that their minds and bodies are holding in the here-and-now, which of course stems from our past and impacts our future. I believe that healing is an ongoing process that requires us to slow down and stay with our physical sensations, noticing how we relate to the people in our lives, our community structures, our cultural systems, and even the natural ecology around us. We can learn to resist amnesia and anesthesia, and can practice living more fully alive.
Alongside my work as a therapist, I am launching a newsletter on Substack. This is a non-clinical side-space where I plan to share field notes (micromemoirs, essays, reflections, and poems) that have to do with the wondrous act of paying attention and what becomes possible when we do. My very first piece is an invitation to join me as I begin, on my couch, with breath, determined to stay awake and alive.
I invite you to read my first reflection, "Welcome to A(t)tending to Wonder: Field Notes on Living More Fully Alive," and join the community on Substack.
If you’re curious about counseling, I’d be honored to connect with you. I work with women who feel overwhelmed and off-balance, offering a compassionate, steady presence and joining as a collaborator to help you stay with what’s emerging in the moment and get curious about the deeper layers of your experience. Together, we experiment with small, meaningful changes that lead to different ways of being and moving through the world. My specialties include anxiety therapy, midlife growth and empowerment, and young adults and college/graduate students.