Individual Therapy

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In our work together, you’ll find a supportive space to explore whatever you’re showing up with, whether that’s anxiety, depression, OCD, identity or life transitions, relationship challenges, or the ways these struggles may be getting in the way of the life you want for yourself. I believe every person is multifaceted and that all parts of you deserve attention and care in the therapy space. While I use evidence-based treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to address specific challenges, I also hold space for the full complexity of who you are.

My approach is collaborative and flexible, with a focus on building resilience and confidence, cultivating self-compassion, and helping you live in alignment with what matters most to you so you can move toward a more meaningful and fulfilling life. Whether you're working to manage symptoms or hoping to better understand yourself, our work will be tailored to support your growth while honoring the many parts of you that enter the therapy room. Together, we will create space for reflection, growth, and meaningful change.

Treatment Approaches

My approach to therapy combines evidence-based treatments with a collaborative, identity-affirming perspective. I primarily draw from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and, when working with OCD, Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). When working with parents of child, teen and adult children, I utilize Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE + SPACE FTL) and when working with caregivers and/or family members, I utilize the Family Wellbeing Approach (FWBA).  At times, I also integrate insight from psychodynamic and depth-oriented therapy when it helps deepen understanding and support meaningful change. When symptoms are getting in the way of the life you want, we start by addressing those in practical, skill-building ways.

I work through an attachment-focused, trauma-informed, and identity-affirming lens. This means recognizing that identity, lived experience, relationships, and context all shape mental health. For clients who are autistic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent, therapy also includes thoughtful attention to nervous system needs. Some experiences, such as sensory pain, burnout, or nervous system overload, are not things to push through or eliminate with exposure or masking. Instead, we focus on stabilizing, accommodating, and supporting your nervous system so that therapy, and life outside of it, can feel sustainable and respectful of how you function best.

In our work together, we may focus on helping you:

Build skills to respond differently to uncomfortable internal experiences such as difficult feelings, sensations, urges, or thoughts

Understand the difference between distress that can be worked through and distress that signals a need for care, rest, or nervous system accommodation

Reduce patterns that keep you feeling stuck

Develop greater psychological flexibility so you can move through challenges with more choice and freedom

Clarify what matters most to you and take steps toward living in alignment with those values

Feel more grounded, supported, and empowered in your daily life

Therapy is collaborative and tailored to your goals, your pace, and your individual needs. Together, we create an approach that respects your experiences while helping you build the skills and insight needed to move toward a more fulfilling and meaningful life.

OCD Treatment:
ACT-Informed Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be exhausting and isolating. Many people with OCD spend hours trying to manage intrusive thoughts (aka obsessions), uncertainty, doubt or distress through mental rituals, reassurance seeking, checking, avoidance, or other compulsive behaviors aimed to reduce the distress and discomfort that presents with the intrusive triggers. Even when these strategies bring short-term relief, they often keep the cycle of OCD going and can slowly pull you away from the life you want to be living.

The most effective treatment for OCD is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). ERP helps you gradually face the thoughts, feelings, and situations that OCD urges you to avoid, while learning new ways to respond that interrupt the cycle of obsession and compulsion. Over time, this work helps you shift your partnership away from OCD and toward the part of you that wants more freedom, meaning, and choice in your life.

In my practice, I often use ACT-informed ERP, which integrates principles from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This approach focuses not only on reducing compulsions, but also on helping you develop a different relationship with anxiety and emotional discomfort. Instead of trying to eliminate uncomfortable thoughts and feelings or achieve perfect certainty, we work on building the capacity to:

Make room for uncertainty and intrusive thoughts without getting pulled into compulsions

Respond to OCD in ways that are guided by your values rather than driven by fear

Reconnect with the parts of your life that OCD may have pushed to the sidelines

ERP is always collaborative and paced in a way that respects readiness, autonomy, and your nervous system. The goal is not to overwhelm you, but to help you build confidence in your ability to handle difficult internal experiences while moving toward the life you want to live.

Neurodivergence and OCD: A Neuroaffirming Approach to ERP

There has been increasing conversation in neurodivergent communities about whether Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) is appropriate for autistic and ADHD individuals. Some of this concern comes from real experiences where therapy focused too heavily on increasing compliance with social expectations rather than supporting autonomy and well-being.

I take these concerns seriously.

My work sits at the intersection of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and neurodivergence (including autism, ADHD, and AuDHD). In this work, an important part of treatment is carefully distinguishing between distress that comes from nervous system overwhelm and distress that comes from a fear-based OCD loop.

These are not the same thing, and they require different responses.

If distress is coming from sensory overload, burnout, executive functioning depletion, or environmental mismatch, the goal is not exposure. In those situations, we focus on stabilization and accommodation—reducing overload, supporting regulation, and helping your nervous system regain access to the resources it needs. To a non-neuroaffirming provider, this might look like “avoidance,” but often it is simply appropriate care.

When distress is driven by OCD fear loops—such as threat appraisal, certainty seeking, or rumination that is shrinking your life—ERP and ACT can be powerful tools. The key difference is that the work is collaborative, consent-based, and grounded in your values.

Exposure in my practice is never about increasing compliance or encouraging masking.  The goal is to reduce the cost of OCD so you have more energy, flexibility, and freedom to live your life in ways that matter to you.

In practice, neuroaffirming ACT-informed ERP means:

Differentiating pain from fear

Making consent and collaboration central to treatment

Supporting flexibility and autonomy, not conformity

Adapting therapy to the person, rather than forcing the person to fit the therapy

When exposure work is done this way, many neurodivergent clients find that it expands their agency rather than reinforcing “just tolerate it” narratives.

My broader belief is that any neurotype benefits from neuroaffirming care. Evidence-based therapies like ERP, ACT, and CBT can be deeply supportive when they are thoughtfully adapted to the person sitting in the room.

CBT focuses on the connection between thoughts, emotions, and behavior. In therapy, we look at patterns that may be maintaining anxiety, depression, or other challenges and work together to develop new ways of responding.

CBT can include:

Identifying thinking patterns that keep people stuck

Developing practical coping and problem-solving strategies

Building skills to navigate stress, uncertainty, and emotional overwhelm

Many of the behavioral tools used in ERP come from the broader CBT framework.

Depth-Oriented and Psychodynamic Perspectives Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Trauma-Informed and Identity-Affirming Care

I practice therapy through a trauma-informed, LGBTQ+ affirming, and neuro-affirming lens. This means recognizing how systems, identity, culture, and lived experiences shape mental health.

In our work together, I aim to create a space where clients feel respected in the fullness of who they are. Therapy should not require people to mask or change core aspects of their identity in order to receive care.

This approach includes:

Respecting neurodivergent ways of thinking, communicating, and experiencing the world

Affirming diverse gender identities and sexual orientations

Being attentive to the impact of trauma and systemic stressors

Collaborating with clients to adapt treatment so it truly fits their needs

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT focuses on helping people develop a different relationship with difficult thoughts and emotions. Rather than trying to eliminate uncomfortable internal experiences, ACT teaches skills for noticing them, making space for them, and choosing actions that align with what matters most.

In practice, this often looks like helping clients:

Step out of cycles of overthinking and mental struggle

Develop psychological flexibility

Clarify personal values

Take meaningful steps toward the life they want to live, even when anxiety or uncertainty is present

ACT pairs especially well with ERP because it supports the mindset needed to approach difficult experiences without becoming stuck in them.

Family-Focused Approaches 

While my primary treatment approaches are structured and evidence-based, my clinical training also includes psychodynamic and depth-oriented therapy. This perspective helps us explore how early relationships, attachment patterns, and past experiences may shape current struggles.

For some clients, therapy includes space to reflect on deeper themes such as identity, meaning, relational patterns, and long-standing emotional experiences. This can help people develop a fuller understanding of themselves alongside the practical work of symptom change.

Anxiety, OCD, and related challenges rarely affect just one person. They often shape the patterns, routines, and emotional climate of an entire family system. In many situations, loved ones are trying their best to help, yet the ways they respond can unintentionally keep anxiety cycles going.

Part of my work involves supporting families, partners and caregivers in learning how to respond in ways that reduce anxiety’s influence while strengthening connection and overall family wellbeing.

SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions)

SPACE is a parent-based treatment developed to help caregivers support children with anxiety or OCD. In this model, the child does not need to participate directly in therapy for change to occur.

SPACE focuses on two key shifts:

Increasing supportive responses to a child’s distress

Gradually reducing family accommodations that unintentionally reinforce anxiety or OCD

Family accommodations can include things like providing repeated reassurance, helping a child avoid feared situations, modifying routines around anxiety, or participating in rituals. While these responses often come from care and compassion, they can sometimes strengthen anxiety over time.

In SPACE, parents learn how to communicate confidence in their child’s ability to cope while reducing accommodations in a gradual, thoughtful way that protects the parent–child relationship.

SPACE-FTL (For Parents of Adult Children Struggling with Delay/Failure to Launch; For Loved Ones of Someone who is Recovery Avoidant)

SPACE principles can also be adapted for partners, spouses, and other loved ones who are supporting someone with anxiety or OCD. This work focuses on helping family members find a balance between being supportive and stepping out of patterns that unintentionally keep anxiety in charge.

The goal is not to withdraw support. Instead, it is to shift how support is offered so that loved ones can stay connected while anxiety and OCD lose influence in the relationship.

SPACE for ARFID

SPACE principles have also been adapted to support families navigating Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). When eating-related anxiety or sensory sensitivities begin to dominate family life, parents and caregivers often feel stuck between protecting their child and trying to encourage progress.

SPACE-informed work around ARFID helps families:

Reduce patterns that revolve entirely around food-related anxiety

Support gradual flexibility in eating without power struggles

Maintain connection and emotional safety during the process of change

The focus remains on supportive parenting combined with thoughtful reduction of accommodations that keep anxiety in control.

The Family Wellbeing Approach

In some situations, a loved one may be reluctant to engage in treatment or actively avoiding recovery-related steps. Alec Pollard’s Family Wellbeing Approach focuses on helping families regain stability and wellbeing even when the person struggling with OCD or anxiety is not currently ready for treatment.

This approach helps family members:

Step out of patterns where the entire household revolves around the disorder

Reclaim personal wellbeing, boundaries, and daily functioning

Reduce unhelpful accommodation patterns

Create conditions that may make recovery more possible over time

Rather than trying to force change in the person who is unwilling, the focus is on strengthening the health and functioning of the family system as a whole.

Parent-Focused Therapy

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My approach to supporting parents combines the evidence-based strategies of SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), family therapy interventions, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). SPACE is a targeted treatment designed to help children and adolescents manage anxiety by empowering parents to implement supportive strategies that reduce anxiety-provoking accommodations, fostering greater independence and emotional resilience. While children are the primary patients, they do not need to attend therapy sessions—parents play a vital role in creating positive change.

In addition to these interventions, I offer parent coaching to help improve parent-child relational dynamics, navigate the unique challenges of parenting neurodivergent children, and build skills to foster connection and understanding within your family. This comprehensive, integrative approach aims to strengthen your relationship with your child, reduce anxiety, and promote a healthier, more supportive family environment.

Family-Focused Therapy

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Have you contacted therapists on behalf of a loved one who is ambivalent or avoidant about participating in therapy, despite experiencing significant impairments in their life? Have you been told, "If the client is not willing to engage in treatment, I can't help you"? 

This approach is for you.  It is designed for loved ones—parents, spouses, or family members—who are navigating the challenges of supporting someone with a mental health condition or recovery-avoidant behaviors. Often, these situations can feel overwhelming, consuming every aspect of family life and making it difficult to maintain balance and connection. Regardless of your family member’s diagnosis or treatment needs, my integrative approach offers compassionate support to help you navigate these complex dynamics with intention and clarity. 

Using strategies from the SPACE-Failure to Launch (FTL) approach, the Family Wellbeing Program Approach (FWPA), family therapy interventions, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), we focus on reducing family stress, improving communication, and fostering autonomy—all while respecting each individual’s unique journey. My goal is to help your family rebuild trust, strengthen bonds, and move toward more fulfilling, meaningful outcomes—creating a supportive environment that promotes mutual understanding and resilience.