Aging is not a synonym for declining. Aging is a human condition that we all experience. “Aging doesn’t narrow life…it refines it,” in the words of geropsychologist Dr. Regina Koepp. “Older adulthood isn’t about shrinking, it’s often about clarifying…choosing what matters most: more meaning, more depth, more values-aligned relationships; less busy-ness, more purpose.” This is not to suggest that your concerns and feelings about how signs of aging are showing up for you – shifts in your sense of identity, changed physical and brain health, grief, loneliness, worry about aspects of the future or reflecting on the past, or anything else – are not the norm for many of us as well.As an older therapist, I feel as if my age and lived history, lived wisdom as it were, are assets and strengths in my work. My lived history and experiences enable a sense of organic communication and connection that can enrich our therapeutic work and relationship. I offer empathetic, affirming support for adapting, coping, and living fully and with agency into the opportunities you have ahead, as we age, together. Interested in connecting with peers around topics related to aging, in addition to personal therapy? Contact me about joining a peer support and psychoeducation group.

Here’s the truth: caregiving is an expression of deep love and commitment in the hardest of circumstances…and it can also be emotionally demanding, exhausting, confusing, isolating, disheartening, and overwhelming. It can be something we do out of our devotion without questioning, and that raises questions for us as caregiving becomes more challenging, perhaps, or our resources of energy, time, finances, and for meeting our own needs dwindle. Caregiving is a relationship, or a new stage in our already significant relationships.If you are a caregiver for a loved one, your health and well-being matter as much as those of the person for whom you are caring, because you both depend on you. Care recipient and caregiver health are not one directional, and that includes mental health.You are resilient, devoted, and you are not alone. You deserve support. I have had personal experience with loved ones with cancer, Parkinson’s Disease, and dementia. I have been where you are, and it would be my privilege to join and support you through all stages of your caregiving journey: the stress, the experience of shifting roles, the grief and loss, the sense of increased purpose, emotional intimacy, and personal growth. Your experience and feelings are unique to you, and you matter. Interested in connecting with peers who also are caregiving, in addition to personal therapy? Contact me about joining a peer support and psychoeducation group.

You are not your diagnosis or health issue, but I imagine it sometimes feels like these define you. A discovered illness or condition, treatment protocols and regimens, tests and appointments can quickly overshadow and push aside everything else that defines who you are and how you have chosen to live your life. It can be hard to restore that sense of balance between who you know yourself to be and who your health challenges insist that you are. Not to mention how you are affected by the emotions, questions, and worries that arise when you consider how you and your quality of life are impacted by health symptoms, prognosis, and even reflections on mortality. I welcome you as an individual, not as a diagnosis or health challenge, though I recognize that these are important parts of your story. I have had family members experience cancers, Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, and disability. While my relationships with them and my close involvement in their lives and care does not make me an expert in what you may be experiencing, they have fostered my empathy and ability to meet and support you in the midst of what’s happening for and to you, here and now. I welcome the opportunity to discover with you the coping strategies that you’ll find helpful, and to process together, the many emotions you may be feeling.

All changes, even those that are positive or sought-after, bring with them a sense of loss. And with loss comes feelings of grief and longing. Before we have experienced loss personally, many of us think of grief as the feeling that follows the death of a loved one. It’s natural and true that significant, important feelings of grief arise in the aftermath of death, but it’s also true that other endings prompt grief: the end of a relationship or friendship, the end of our school years, the end of a job, the end of our time in our lifelong home. These are just a few examples, and we can imagine the up sides of some of these endings occurring at the same time. We leave a relationship or friendship because a new, perhaps healthier one has entered our lives; we’re excited to graduate and begin our careers; we are promoted or are taking a position that better aligns with our professional aspirations and goals; and our life stage allows us to relocate somewhere better suited to our needs. All good things, and yet, we carry into these new and good things, our wishes, longings, and missing the people, places, and experiences we are leaving behind. Engaging in therapy offers you a space to express and explore your deepest feelings. This is essential to moving from the initial emotions grief and loss may bring to greater understanding and acceptance of the circumstances of your loss and how they affect you. Together, we will process your feelings about change and loss, and consider the ways and reasons you are experiencing them as you are, helping you work towards achieving increased peace and well-being.

Dolly Parton said, “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” There’s no shortage of quotations about transitions or shifts in the wind: "Your life is a story of transition. You are always leaving one chapter behind while moving on to the next,” or, "Sometimes our lives have to be completely shaken up, changed, & rearranged to relocate us to the place we're meant to be." All true, but knowing these things doesn’t necessarily help us feel better about the surprises and shifts that are happening in our lives. Some shifts that come to mind, that I think many of us experience at one time or another, are the shifts in our roles as we grow and develop, in our relationships, in our educational and career focuses and pursuits, and chiefly in our self-perceptions, since transitions in our lives influence how we feel about ourselves in relation to them. Adjusting to transitions can take some time and work; few of us have the talent to go immediately from A to B in our thinking and doing, without feelings and uncertainties. As a therapist who has lived a life that has included many and varied transitions, and who is living into the opportunity of more happening in my future, I look forward to reflecting together on the challenges you are facing, and identifying strategies that could help with your adjustment.

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another,” according to William James. He’s not wrong, and the same can be said about anxiety and depression. If only it were that simple: I don’t want to think this, so I’ll think that instead. I don’t want to feel that, so I’ll feel this instead. Poof! All better.You know, as I do, that feelings of being stressed can come in all types of circumstances and environments. And depression and anxiety – the act of anticipating, dreading, and predicting the worst – often feel as if we are in their control, not the other way around.There are effective, evidence-based ways of managing stress, anxiety, and depression, however. Together, we can identify what may be contributing to your feelings, thoughts, and responses, recognizing what might be useful to you in those situations (yes, there may be some insight or value we can gain from reflecting on what’s happening and what may be causing it). We will work together to develop strategies that help you feel more agency and ability to flip your usual narrative so that you, not your stress, anxiety, or depression, are the main character of your life story.