My Counseling Approach

Attachment & Brain-Based Therapy in Lakewood, Colorado

Virtual Therapy in Ohio

If you’ve ever experienced overwhelm, you’re probably human.

Hardship is an inevitable part of life. At times, stressors can exceed our capacity to cope, leaving us feeling anxious, stuck, burned out, or disconnected. And while humans are inherently resilient, there are moments when the weight of life feels like too much to carry alone.

Therapy is a space to restore balance—to help you regain a sense of stability, clarity, and direction when things feel uncertain.

Making Sense of Stress

I derive my conceptualization from the ABC-X model of family stress (McCubbin & Patterson, 1983).

This model helps explain why some experiences feel manageable while others lead to distress.

• A (Stressor): A life event or challenge

• B (Resources): Your internal and external supports (emotional skills, relationships, environment)

• C (Perception): How you interpret the situation

• X (Outcome): Whether the experience feels manageable or overwhelming

When stressors (A) outweigh your available resources (B) or when your internal narrative becomes self-critical or hopeless (C) — it can lead to cycles of distress (X).

Our work focuses on restoring balance by strengthening your internal resources, improving emotional regulation, and reshaping how you relate to your experiences—both internally and in your relationships.

Where Do Problems Come From?

All mental health struggles have a neurological basis.

Your brain’s primary role is to keep you safe. When stress becomes overwhelming, the brain can shift into protective states—such as fight, flight, or freeze. This can show up as anxiety, emotional reactivity, shutting down, or feeling stuck.

At the same time, the stories you tell about yourself shape how you experience the world. These narratives are often shaped by your early relationships—your attachment patterns—which influence how you connect with others, seek support, and respond to closeness, distance, or conflict.

When your internal narrative becomes critical or limiting, your brain begins to filter experiences through that lens—reinforcing feelings of inadequacy, fear, or disconnection.

Over time, this can create a cycle where:

• Your brain is trying to protect you

• But the strategies it uses no longer serve you

You’re not broken and you’re not “doing it wrong.” Your brain and body are doing exactly what they were designed to do.

The work is learning how to support your brain & body differently.

Can I Change?

Meaningful & lasting change often comes from restoring two key pillars:

1. Competence — Building Skills, Resources, and Capacity

Before deeper change can occur, your brain needs a sense of safety and stability.

This includes strengthening your nervous system regulation, emotional awareness, and ability to stay present with your experiences.

This may involve:

• Processing emotions in a supported way

• Developing regulation and coping skills

• Releasing stored stress holistically through cognitive, somatic, and brain-based approaches

2. Confidence — Reframing Your Narrative and Perceptions

As competency increases, the work often shifts toward how you see yourself and your life.

Past experiences—especially those involving hurt, loss, or invalidation—can shape beliefs such as:

• “I’m not enough”

• “I don’t have a choice”

• “Things won’t change”

Even when your circumstances shift, these narratives can remain.

Using principles from Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and attachment-based work, we begin to:

• Recognize where you do have agency

• Release what is outside your control

• Create new experiences of safety and connection

• Develop a more secure and compassionate relationship with yourself

You don’t need to “earn” your worth. Part of the process is learning to care for yourself—and relate to others—in ways that foster security, trust, and emotional connection.

Where Do I Begin?

Many clients benefit from an integrative approach that includes attachment-focused therapy and nervous system regulation.

Because every brain is unique and every brain’s needs are different, every clinical relationship begins with a Comprehensive Assessment—which evaluates not only your personal history, but also your resting brainwave activity, active cognitive performance, and autonomic heart rate variability.

By identifying these metrics on day one, we move beyond a checklist of symptoms and gather precise insight into what your brain currently needs. Your history and brainwave data directly inform how we sequence and target your care—allowing us to build a tailored, precise roadmap that integrates the following specialized psychophysiological and therapeutic interventions: