Depression
Depression Hurts — But You Don’t Have to Face It Alone
It’s normal to feel sad or low sometimes — we all do. But depression is different. It’s more than a passing mood. It can take hold of your thoughts, emotions, body, and daily life, making even the simplest things feel heavy or overwhelming.
If you’re feeling this way, you’re not alone. And there is help.
What Does Depression Feel Like?
Depression can look different for everyone, but some common signs include:
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A persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” feeling
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Hopelessness or a sense that things will never get better
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Irritability, frustration, or feeling constantly on edge
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Guilt, shame, or a harsh inner voice
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Loss of interest in things you once enjoyed
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Fatigue, low energy, or a sense of being slowed down
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Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
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Sleep changes — trouble falling asleep, waking too early, or sleeping too much
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Appetite changes or unintentional weight gain/loss
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Physical pain (like headaches or stomach issues) without a clear cause
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Thoughts of death or suicide
Depression Can Also Show Up As:
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Increased anger or emotional sensitivity
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Pulling away from family and friends
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Feeling detached, numb, or disconnected
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Engaging in risky behaviors or using substances to cope
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Difficulty keeping up with responsibilities
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Changes in sexual desire or performance
There Is Hope — and There Is Help
You don’t have to keep struggling in silence. Therapy can help you:
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Understand what’s really going on beneath the surface
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Quiet the inner critic and bring in more self-compassion
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Learn tools to manage difficult thoughts and emotions
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Reconnect with your values and sense of purpose
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Start feeling more energized, hopeful, and whole
Depression is treatable — and healing is possible. Together, we can chart a path that helps you feel more like yourself again.
If you're ready to take the first step, I’m here to walk with you.
Schedule a free consultation.
Anxiety
Anxiety Can Feel Overwhelming — Especially When You Feel Everything Deeply
If you’re someone who experiences emotions intensely, anxiety can feel like a constant background noise — buzzing with “what ifs,” second-guessing, and a sense that something is always just a little bit off. It’s more than stress. It’s a nervous system stuck in overdrive.
You might find it hard to relax, hard to focus, or hard to stop the cycle of worry — even when you know, logically, there’s nothing urgent to fear. This isn’t about being dramatic. It’s about being deeply tuned in — and not having the tools (yet) to quiet the alarm bells going off inside you.
What Anxiety Can Feel Like
Anxiety affects everyone differently, but common signs include:
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Constant worry about everyday situations
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Feeling restless, on edge, or easily overwhelmed
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Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
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Fatigue or feeling drained, even after rest
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Difficulty concentrating or staying present
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Muscle tension, headaches, or stomach pain
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Racing thoughts or a feeling that your mind won’t stop
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Shortness of breath, lightheadedness, or heart pounding
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Avoiding situations that feel unpredictable or out of your control
When You’re Highly Sensitive, Anxiety Can Feel Even Bigger
Highly sensitive people often experience anxiety more acutely. Your body might pick up on subtle cues and internalize them as danger. You might feel responsible for keeping things “together” — for yourself and everyone around you.
You may find yourself:
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Worrying about health, relationships, or performance
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Overanalyzing conversations or anticipating worst-case scenarios
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Feeling guilt or shame for not being able to “just calm down”
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Struggling with emotional intensity that feels impossible to manage
If any of this resonates with you, know this: your anxiety isn’t a flaw. It’s a signal — and one that can be worked with, not silenced or pushed away.
The Good News: Anxiety Is Treatable
With the right support, anxiety becomes something you can understand, manage, and eventually quiet. In therapy, we’ll explore what’s fueling your anxiety and work together to build skills that help you feel more grounded, centered, and in control.
You’ll learn how to:
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Regulate your nervous system and come back to calm
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Interrupt anxious thought loops and shift your focus
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Develop mindfulness and self-soothing practices that really help
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Set boundaries and prioritize your own emotional needs
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Build trust in yourself — and in your capacity to handle life’s uncertainty
Let’s Help You Find Peace Again
You don’t have to live in fight-or-flight mode. You deserve to feel safe in your own mind and body — and to navigate the world with greater ease and confidence.
Let’s take the first step together.
Schedule a free consultation and start building a calmer, more connected way of living.
Borderline Personality Disorder
Living with Intense Emotions Can Be Incredibly Painful — But You Don’t Have to Stay Stuck
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often misunderstood — and often deeply stigmatized. But at its core, it’s about something very human: difficulty regulating intense emotions.
If you live with BPD, you may find yourself overwhelmed by emotional storms that seem to come out of nowhere. One moment you feel deeply connected, and the next, disconnected or rejected. Your sense of self may shift frequently. And the pain of feeling “too much” — or “not enough” — can be exhausting.
This isn’t about being broken. It’s about having a sensitive nervous system that hasn’t had the support it needs to feel safe, stable, and grounded.
What BPD Might Feel Like
You may notice yourself experiencing:
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Intense emotional highs and lows
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Feeling unsure of who you are or what you believe in from moment to moment
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Strong fears of abandonment — real or imagined
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Relationship patterns that swing between closeness and conflict
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Acting impulsively in ways that later cause regret (spending, sex, food, substances)
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Self-harming behaviors or suicidal thoughts
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Feeling empty, numb, or like you don’t exist
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Anger that feels hard to control
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Moments of dissociation — like you’re outside of yourself
These patterns aren’t a sign that you’re hopeless — they’re a signal that you need new tools, new support, and a way to relate to your emotions that helps you feel steadier and more in control.
There Is a Path Toward Healing
The good news? There’s treatment that works.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is one of the most effective and well-researched treatments for BPD and other emotion-based struggles. It was originally created to support people who felt emotionally out of control — and it has since helped thousands build lives that feel more grounded, meaningful, and manageable.
DBT helps you:
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Learn how to regulate intense emotions without shutting down
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Build healthier, more stable relationships
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Develop mindfulness and self-awareness
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Reduce impulsive or self-destructive behaviors
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Increase your sense of self-worth and personal agency
DBT is also highly effective for people struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, eating disorders, and substance use — especially when those issues are connected to emotional sensitivity and dysregulation.
You Deserve Support That Sees the Whole You
If you’ve been told you’re “too much,” “too emotional,” or “too sensitive,” you are in the right place. I specialize in helping highly sensitive people and big feelers understand themselves more deeply, develop emotional skills that actually work, and create lives that feel worth living.
This work is not about fixing you — it’s about helping you come home to yourself, with more clarity, compassion, and confidence.
Let’s Begin Together
You don’t have to walk through this alone.
Schedule a free consultation.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Trauma Changes You — But Healing Is Possible
When something traumatic happens — whether suddenly or over time — your nervous system can become overwhelmed. It might feel like the event is still living inside your body and mind, even long after it’s over.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop after any experience that was deeply overwhelming, threatening, or made you feel powerless. This includes events like accidents, abuse, natural disasters, medical trauma, witnessing harm to others, or long-term emotional invalidation.
For highly sensitive people, trauma often hits even deeper. You may notice that certain sounds, images, places, or even thoughts send your body into a spiral of anxiety, fear, or shutdown. You may feel stuck in survival mode — and unsure how to get out.
Understanding PTSD
Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, but when it does happen, it’s not something you can just “get over.” It affects your body, thoughts, emotions, and relationships. PTSD symptoms tend to fall into four categories:
1. Re-experiencing symptoms
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Flashbacks or vivid memories that make you feel like the trauma is happening again
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Nightmares or distressing dreams
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Intrusive thoughts you can’t control
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Physical symptoms like racing heart, sweating, or nausea
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Intense emotional distress when triggered
2. Avoidance symptoms
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Avoiding people, places, or situations that remind you of what happened
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Shutting down emotionally or avoiding thoughts and feelings
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Changing your routines to stay “safe,” even when there’s no actual danger
3. Arousal and reactivity symptoms
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Feeling constantly on edge or hyper-alert
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Sleep problems or chronic restlessness
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Irritability or angry outbursts that feel hard to control
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Difficulty concentrating
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Engaging in risky, impulsive, or self-destructive behaviors
4. Cognition and mood symptoms
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Trouble remembering parts of the traumatic event
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Negative beliefs about yourself or the world
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Ongoing feelings of guilt, shame, anger, or fear
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Feeling disconnected from others or emotionally numb
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Loss of interest in things that used to matter
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Struggling to feel happiness or hope
If these symptoms last for more than a month and interfere with your daily life, it may be PTSD. And the good news is — it is treatable.
You Can Heal — Even if It Feels Impossible Right Now
PTSD is incredibly painful, but there are evidence-based treatments that work. I offer DBT-Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE) — a powerful therapy designed to help people safely process traumatic memories and reclaim their lives.
Research shows that:
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71–80% of people who complete DBT-PE experience full PTSD remission
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Recovery rates for co-occurring conditions like depression, anxiety, and substance use are as high as 60–100%
Healing from trauma takes courage, patience, and support — but you don’t have to do it alone.
Let’s Begin Your Healing
If you’re ready to take the first step toward healing from trauma, I’d be honored to support you.
Schedule a free consultation and let’s talk about what healing could look like for you.
Emotion Dysregulation
When Your Emotions Feel Too Big to Handle
If you’re a highly sensitive person, you likely feel emotions more intensely than most — joy, sorrow, fear, love, anger. That emotional depth is a strength, but when your nervous system becomes overwhelmed, it can feel like your emotions are running the show.
Emotional dysregulation is when emotions feel too big, too fast, or too hard to manage. You might find yourself reacting in ways that feel out of proportion, or struggling to come back to calm once something sets you off. It can feel like you're stuck on an emotional roller coaster — exhausted from the ups and downs, but unsure how to get off the ride.
You’re not “too much.” You’re not broken. You may simply never have learned the tools to regulate emotions in a way that works with your sensitivity — not against it.
What Emotional Dysregulation Can Look Like
Because highly sensitive people process everything more deeply, dysregulation can show up in many ways, including:
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Intense anxiety, depression, or mood swings
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Shame, self-criticism, or emotional overwhelm
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Sudden outbursts of anger, panic, or uncontrollable crying
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Self-harming behaviors or urges
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Using substances, food, or risky behaviors to try to cope
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Struggles with perfectionism or fear of failure
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Difficulty calming down once triggered
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Conflicted or stormy relationships
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Feelings of emptiness, numbness, or being “too much”
When dysregulation is ongoing, it can impact every area of life — your relationships, your ability to work, your sense of identity, and your hope for the future.
The Good News: You Can Learn to Regulate Your Emotions
Emotional regulation is like having a volume dial for your feelings — not to silence them, but to help you turn them down when they get too loud, and respond with more calm and clarity.
In therapy, you’ll learn:
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Why your emotions feel so intense — and how that’s connected to your nervous system and past experiences
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How to regulate emotions in real-time, without suppressing or avoiding them
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Coping skills to soothe your body and mind when you feel overwhelmed
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How to navigate conflict and relationships without shutting down or exploding
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Practices that help you feel more grounded, balanced, and in control
You Deserve Support That Honors Your Sensitivity
Emotional depth is a gift — but without the right support, it can feel like a burden. Therapy offers a safe space to understand your emotions, build resilience, and move through life with more stability and self-trust.
If you’re ready to feel more balanced and in control, I’m here to help you find your way back to center.
Let’s begin.
Schedule a free consultation and take the first step toward a calmer, more connected life.
Insomnia
When Sleep Doesn't Come Easy, Everything Feels Harder
If you’ve been struggling with sleepless nights — lying awake with racing thoughts, waking up too early, or tossing and turning for hours — you’re not alone. About one-third of adults experience insomnia at any given time. But for highly sensitive people, poor sleep can feel even more disruptive. A restless night can throw your whole system off — emotionally, physically, and mentally.
Insomnia is more than the occasional bad night. It’s a sleep disorder that affects your ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or feel rested when you wake up. And over time, it can impact your mood, your focus, your relationships, and your overall well-being.
Signs You Might Be Living with Insomnia
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Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
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Waking up earlier than you’d like and not being able to fall back asleep
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Daytime fatigue, low energy, or sleepiness
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Trouble concentrating or staying focused
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Irritability, anxiety, or feeling emotionally overwhelmed
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Dreading bedtime because it’s become a nightly struggle
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Feeling frustrated, stuck, or hopeless about your sleep
Sleep isn’t a luxury — it’s a core part of your mental health. When we don’t sleep well, everything else becomes harder to manage — especially for sensitive nervous systems.
The Good News: There’s a Proven Way to Get Better Sleep
I’m trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) — the gold standard treatment for insomnia. It’s a short-term, skills-based therapy that helps you understand and shift the thoughts and behaviors that are keeping you stuck in the cycle of poor sleep.
CBT-I is:
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Highly effective — research shows it works as well as sleep medication in the short term and better in the long term
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Structured and personalized — typically completed in 6–8 sessions
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Focused on real, lasting change — without the side effects of medication
Together, we’ll track your sleep patterns, identify what’s interfering with restful sleep, and use research-backed tools to help you fall asleep more easily, stay asleep longer, and feel better during the day.
You Deserve Rest That Restores You
If bedtime has become something you dread, you don’t have to keep struggling through it alone. With the right tools, your body and mind can relearn how to rest.
Let’s get you back to the sleep your sensitive system needs — and the ease and clarity that come with it.
Schedule a free consultation to learn how CBT-I can help you finally get the rest you’ve been craving.