01 / what i help withMental Health Challenges I Work With
You may not have the exact words for what you have been experiencing lately, but you do not need to. You know exactly how your life has been going, and you know the thoughts and feelings that bombard you at two in the morning. If you are looking for a therapist to see exactly what you are going through, help you name it, and then help you through it, I would be glad to hear from you.
Below, the conditions I work with most are grouped by how they tend to feel from the inside. Read through the groups, and if one of them sounds like your last few months, the page under each name tells you more.
02 / where to startLet’s narrow down what you may be experiencing
If any of the below sections sound like the week, month, or year you have been having, open its page to read more. I work with every one of these concerns in my practice.
Trauma, and what it comes with
A single event you cannot shake, or years of harm that felt normal at the time. Shock trauma comes from one event. Developmental trauma builds up over years, often starting in childhood. Both are welcome here.
Anxiety and panic
Your body reacts before you know why. A racing heart, a tight chest, a mind that jumps to the worst outcome. You freeze up, and you replay small moments for hours after they happen.
Mood
Your moods stop feeling predictable. One moment you are happy, the next you are pissed off. Or nothing feels good anymore, and it seems as if no one around you cares.
Personality and Obsessions
What you see in the mirror, how you feel about the people close to you, and what you know to be true stop lining up. You can know a fact about yourself and still feel the opposite so strongly that the fact gives way.
Executive functioning and performance
The term covers how you start a task, stay with it, and switch to the next one. When it runs poorly, your effort and your results stop matching. The gap is what wears you down. You may have been told you are smart but lazy, or that you must not want it enough. Or you do well in practice, and lose it in the game.
03 / How I WorkFour approaches, matched to what you bring
For memories that still hit as though they happened last week, whether from a single shock or from years of it. A trauma treatment with decades of research behind it. It is one of the three therapies the 2023 VA and DoD guideline for PTSD recommends most strongly.
Practical skills for handling strong emotions, riding out a crisis without making it worse, and keeping your relationships steadier.
For the parts of you that pull in opposite directions, and for the moments you feel detached from your body or your surroundings, which is called dissociation.
For the patterns you built early to get through childhood, which still shape how you connect with the people closest to you.
04 / The logisticsWhat it costs and how long it takes
I do not bill insurance, so you and I decide how your care goes. No insurance company sets a limit on the sessions you get.
You can still ask your insurer to pay you back. I will give you a superbill, which is an itemized receipt you send to them yourself.
You can also ask for a Good Faith Estimate before we start, and the No Surprises Act gives you the right to one. It lists what your care is likely to cost.
How long therapy takes is different for every client. One clear goal may take a handful of sessions, and patterns you have carried since childhood can take longer. I will give you my thoughts after the first few sessions, rather than a firm number on day one.
FreeFree Consultation
A relaxed, 15-minute talk about what you need and whether we fit. By phone, by video, or in person.
$185Therapy Sessions
Weekly 53-minute sessions shaped around your needs, in Iowa City or by telehealth in Iowa and North Carolina.
Free DownloadThe Grounding Guide
A one-page set of grounding tools you can use the next time your body runs ahead of you.
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05 / Reach outA fifteen-minute call, and no obligation afterwards
Tell me what has been going on, and what you hope therapy with me can change. If I am not the right fit, I will tell you early and help you find a clinician who is.