Blog
Using the Edge of Awareness to Sense Truth
What is the edge of awareness? The edge of awareness is a psychic location where something previously unknown takes shape. A body sensation becomes information about our physical state. Unsettledness resolves into a clear emotion. Some words write themselves into a...
Core Concepts in Internal Family Systems Therapy
IFS therapy is a transformative healing process based on the belief that we all have a complex system of parts within ourselves: we are many things at once. The beauty of IFS is that it helps us inhabit more of who we are. We bond more deeply to parts of us who show...
IFS and BDSM: A Radical Invitation to Hidden Parts
Sexuality can be a site of exploration, pleasure, and discovery—BDSM equally so. In this article, I explore the practice from an IFS perspective, identifying motivations people’s systems may have for engaging in this type of subversive sexuality as well as how such...
I’m a Social Justice Therapist: What Does That Mean?
Social justice belongs in therapy, because our culture affects us inside and out. We struggle because we live in systems not designed to support our full humanity. Internal and interpersonal challenges are also systemic failures. To be more present for you, I honor...
The Network of Attention in Brainspotting and IFS
Brainspotting and IFS are both transformative ways to work with the effects of trauma and distressing experiences. Each of these modalities supports clients in attending to, rather than avoiding, the present-day pain caused by past traumas. Doing so helps liberate us...
Existential Anxiety: The Opportunity for Agency
Existential anxiety is a result of our own freedom to make choices, our responsibility for ourselves, the inherent meaninglessness of life, and the inevitability of death. Existential dread is another term for this type of anxiety, which differs from what we generally...
A Big List of Mental Health Resources
Here’s a non-comprehensive collection of info about therapy modalities I use. You’ll also find lots of mental health resources, some specific to the types of folks I often work with and a couple more general support sections at the end. Internal Family Systems...
Situated Freedom in Existential Therapy: Ethics and Oppression
In a previous article about existential freedom, I mentioned that the principle of freedom grounds everything else in existential therapy. And it does, but let’s be real: many of us don’t have as much freedom as we want. Freedom is often limited in some way or...
